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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25609753">where there's a desert</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosepetalfall/pseuds/rosepetalfall'>rosepetalfall</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Childhood Friends, Coming of Age, Don't copy to another site, Friends to Lovers, Jedha, M/M, Pining, Worldbuilding</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 07:33:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>75,113</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25609753</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosepetalfall/pseuds/rosepetalfall</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Bodhi is eleven when the Emperor dies, and the explosions start the same day.</p><p>Luke is six when the Emperor dies and Vader takes over. He doesn’t know what that means.</p><p>Bodhi's fourteen when the moisture farm next door is bought suddenly, sight unseen, by some offworlder family.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bodhi Rook/Luke Skywalker, Cassian Andor &amp; Jyn Erso &amp; K-2SO &amp; Bodhi Rook, Leia Organa &amp; Luke Skywalker, Owen Lars &amp; Luke Skywalker &amp; Beru Whitesun</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>138</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>123</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Thank you to <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/DramaticEntrance/pseuds/SassySnowperson">SassySnowperson</a> for the beta-ing and indispensable cheerleading! I would never have gotten this done without her.</p><p>Title from <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=32033">Patricia Hooper's poem Desert.</a></p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The liberation of Jedha is filled with fire.</p><p>Bodhi is eleven when the Emperor dies, and the explosions start the same day. There were bombs before, but this day marks the beginning of the Struggle. This day, Bodhi knows, will be forever held high in his memory. Jedha, old Jedha, a moon with the Force and faith echoing in even its most crooked market alleys, never wanted the Empire. Jedha, which has stood through kings and queens and Councils, takes its luck where it can find it.</p><p>By sun-down prayers on the day the Emperor dies, the central Imperial garrison (in the New City, of course) is blackened and ashy. Still standing, but wounded.</p><p>For the next two years, buildings burn, people burn, the whole moon seems to burn.</p><p>But, then at the end of it: No more check points, no more Storm Troopers in the streets, no more Star Destroyers descending out of atmo.</p><p>The day the last Imperial troop transport departs, people set off firecrackers from their roofs. The Rebel Alliance relief workers hand out sparklers. There is music pouring out of windows and dancing in the streets. Bodhi’s sisters lead him out of their house by the hand, their grinning faces tipped up to the sky. Even Abbu, so serious, laughs and dances to the drumming. It is like waking after the monsoon’s first rain to find even the city’s dustiest corners suddenly bright with blooming flowers. Like life, true life, has begun again.</p>
<hr/><p>Luke is six when the Emperor dies and Vader takes over. He doesn’t know what that means. But it’s on the holonews and Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru don’t stop watching, not even for chores and there’s always chores.</p><p>Then Ben Kenobi comes to visit, that afternoon. Ben being anywhere near their homestead is really weird, because Uncle Owen doesn’t like him.</p><p>Luke doesn’t know why Uncle Owen doesn’t like Ben. Luke likes Ben. Ben always smiles at him, when they see each other. Smiling is kind and kindness is important in the desert, Aunt Beru always says. So Luke still hasn’t figured out why Uncle Owen always pulls him away, when they see Ben Kenobi in Anchorhead.</p><p>Today, though, Uncle Owen just ushers Ben into the house, glancing around behind them before closing the door. Aunt Beru brings him a cup of tea.</p><p>Luke lurks by the open entrance arc of the dining room, trying not to look so curious that they send him away. Biggs says that Ben’s a wizard and Luke has a feeling that’s not the right word, but still, it’d be so great if it were true.</p><p>“Ah, Luke,” Ben smiles. It’s a nice smile but he is not happy. He’s worried like an itch. “Look how much you’ve grown!”</p><p>Luke smiles back and looks at the floor, rubbing the back of his ankle with his opposite foot. Too much outward praise for children brings bad attention, Great-Aunt Osmay always says. Too many jealous ghosts who perk up at the thought of stealing a healthy child who thrives, when their own lives were cut short. Luke knows it’s good to be careful but it would be nice to hear things like what Ben says more often.</p><p>“I have something for you,” Ben says, though he turns first to look at Owen and Beru. “If you don’t mind.”</p><p>They share that look that means they’re speaking-without-speaking, and Beru nods. Ben takes out a star ship model out of his bag.</p><p>“For me?” Luke asks, feeling excitement bubble up despite the way Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru and Ben all still feel worried.</p><p>Ben smiles and this one is truer, as he holds it out to Luke.</p><p>It’s a ship Luke doesn’t have — “A Naboo star cruiser,” Ben says — and it’s brand new, just for him.</p><p>“Go play in the courtyard,” Beru says, shooing him off. “Stay in sight and — ”</p><p>“Stay in the shade!” Luke fills in. He dashes off into the courtyard, because a whole new ship to have adventures with is far more tempting than the sinking sand atmosphere of the dining room.</p><p>He doesn’t know what Ben discusses with his aunt and uncle, but after that, Ben comes by every month or so. He starts to talk to Luke about the clouds of sensation that surround people, and how Luke himself gives off the same, and how it’s important to be very, very quiet about all of that.</p><p>Then Ben will sit down with Owen and Beru, murmuring about faraway places. If they catch Luke lingering, trying to listen in, they always send him out to play, or do chores, or clean up his “tinkering projects” as Beru calls them. (Luke’s fixing them! It’s just taking time.)</p><p>After Ben’s visits, Luke dreams of the stars, of cities that are whole planets, and a girl with tumbling brown curls.</p>
<hr/><p>Jedha comes back to itself in steps. It’s too quiet at first, everyone too on edge. The Partisans lurk around the edges of the cities and there’s arguing in the Government Hall. <em>What next? What is freedom, when you’re alone? Are Alderaan, Chandrila, Mon Cala, the rebel systems that departed the Empire so quietly after Palpatine’s death to be trusted? Shall we take their extended hand? Is this Commonwealth they are building the gamble we wish to chance ourselves on?</em></p><p>Debates rage, only sometimes peacefully. But the streets are safer, the explosions are seldom, and the schools are open all week again.</p><p>Bodhi never imagined he’d so overjoyed to walk back into a classroom, but there’s Abbu’s smile as he dons his best teaching vest, and the welcome clatter of Bodhi’s classmates, and the smell of fresh chalk floating in the air.</p><p>At the end of the week, when Bodhi tumbles into Khadijah Aunty’s sweet shop with Kavi and Javed, giggly from the sheer <em>normalcy</em>, Khadijah Aunty claps her hands, gives them all a plate of barfi, and shoos them off into the apartment, saying, “Go do your homework now. Bodhi, you check my Javed’s calculations, please.”</p><p>Javed groans, grabbing them both by the arm to drag them upstairs. Kavi’s laugh tosses her curls like she’s a plucky heroine in an old holofilm. Bodhi’s heart clenches with hope and he laughs, too.</p><p>And, then, finally, one day during that first year of peace, the Guardians emerge from their hiding spots, and throw open the gates of the Temple. NiJedha is the Holy City once more.</p><p>But if the Struggle taught NiJedha anything, it’s that crowds are dangerous. Crowds hide things and even here, in the Temple’s own city, people are afraid to return.</p><p>But, Abbu says, from behind his teacher’s desk, faith is greater than fear. Early in the spring, before the heat and before the rain, when the greenhouses are just beginning their unnatural blooms, Abbu declares that it’s time to go back to communal prayer, at the Temple.</p><p>Bodhi's older sisters, Asha and Divya, put on their gold earrings, their floral embroidered shawls, and their mother even buys fresh jasmine garlands and carefully distributes them, pinning clusters to Bodhi's sisters' braids, then framing her own careful bun. It is an uncharacteristic luxury, but when crossing the threshold of the most holy Temple, presenting yourself well is a form of honor.</p><p>Abbu smiles, the quiet pride that lives along his unbending spine in full force today. "Ah, such beauties grow in my garden," he says.</p><p>Amma clicks her tongue at him, like she’s reprimanding one of her vendors for showing her subpar bolts of cloth, but her eyes are fond. Bodhi shares a look with Asha — Abbu’s on the verge of quoting one of the old poets, they can just tell.</p><p>Sure enough, Abbu muses, “This reminds me of —”</p><p>“Save your verse for the temple,” Amma says with a hint of a smile, and then they’re out the door.</p><p>“Is this what it was like, before?” Bodhi asks his Amma, as they navigate through the bustle of the Holy Quarter. He barely remembers the days before the Temple’s sanctum closed.</p><p>“No,” she says, drawing her dupatta closer over her head and hurrying them all down the street, past some spacers who might be hiding blasters beneath their ponchos. “It was livelier, before.”</p><p>The pilgrims haven’t come back, yet, she means. Bodhi’s earliest memory is of watching the flood of people entering the city for the Return, sentients of all kinds, headed to the Temple. The Empire didn't like that. They hadn’t liked anything to do with the Temple.</p><p>But they are gone, and the Temple has endured.</p><p>When Bodhi’s bare feet cross the smooth stone of sanctum threshold, the sensation is, against all likelihood, instantly familiar.</p>
<hr/><p>Luke is eight and a half when, suddenly, slavery becomes illegal. Emperor Vader says so himself. There’s a whole announcement that gets covered on all the holonews channels.</p><p>Aunt Beru gasps and drops her glass.</p><p>Luke thinks of his grandmother’s grave, outside, by his grandfather’s. “Isn’t that a good thing?” he asks. Aunt Beru ought to be happy. Her grandpa was a slave once, too. But Aunt Beru’s anxiety is a churning thing, like a little sandstorm she’s carrying around inside.</p><p>“It is, sweetheart, of course,” she says, grabbing Luke’s hand and squeezing, still staring at the screen.</p><p>“So why are you worried?” Luke asks.</p><p>Aunt Beru shakes her head, not dropping his hand, not looking at him. “Oh, honey, I am glad. But the greatest changes never come easy. And you know who runs things here, day to day.”</p><p>“Jabba’s a slaver. He’s not gonna be happy. That’s what you’re worried about, isn’t it?” Luke realizes.</p><p>Aunt Beru finally looks at him and smiles, slightly. “We’ll be alright,” she promises. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”</p><p>She’s right though. Change comes and it doesn’t come easy. Luke starts seeing Imperial troops in real life, in Anchorhead, a place so small there’s probably people in Mos Espa who’ve never heard of it. And, the mumbles in the shops say, they’re not the bribing type.</p><p>Jabba doesn’t like that.</p><p>The Freehold echoes with stories, of firefights in Mos Eisley, of raids in Mos Espa. Jabba’s enforcers come knocking, demanding more credits. The Imps come knocking, too, checking people’s ID cards, demanding to see storerooms. Staring and staring. The months pass strangely, pervaded by the same creeping sensation at the back of Luke’s neck that comes before a sandstorm.</p><p>Then, one day: the break. Luke has just turned nine when Ben sweeps in, tired and fearful, nerves jangling in an unfamiliar way. Ben usually feels like cool, smooth metal. Soothing, and unbreakable, enduring.</p><p>“What’s wrong?” Luke asks, slipping out of his seat, where he was doing his distance lessons. It’s harvest season and he won’t be back in school in Anchorhead for ages. He hates harvest, he never gets to see <em>anyone</em> and this year’s droids don’t seem to get the idea of telling stories, the way the best ones do. Usually Ben coming is a welcome break.</p><p>But today, Ben merely shakes his head, kisses the top of Luke’s head roughly and goes to find Beru. Only moments later, Owen comes in from where he was checking on the vaporators on the south end of their property. They all group together in the kitchen and order Luke off to the garage, to oversee the droid maintenance.</p><p>“He’s coming here," in Ben's voice is the only thing Luke hears before the door slams shut definitively. “He’s coming himself, to see it through.”</p><p>Later, Uncle Owen comes to fetch him, wearing his most solemn face, the one he wears when they clean the graves, together. He sits Luke down at the dining table, across from Beru and Ben, before sitting himself, at the head of the table.</p><p>Luke feels as though he’s in a speeder he can’t stop, headed over the edge (the edge of what?). His stomach drops out from under him.</p><p>Aunt Beru takes Uncle Owen’s hand and squeezes it. Then she says, “Luke, this will be hard for you to hear. But we’ve decided it’s time for us to leave Tatooine.”</p><p>“What?” Luke asks, dumbfounded. “We can’t leave. It’s harvest!”</p><p>Uncle Owen shakes his head. “It’s not safe here, anymore. That’s what’s most important. We’ll leave at the end of the week. Ben has a friend on a moon called Jedha. We’ll head there.”</p><p>Luke’s breath starts coming faster, because he’s confused and frightened down to his cells. Owen would never say something like that if it wasn’t truly going to happen, but how can it?</p><p>“But, we can’t leave! All my friends are here. The — the graves are here. Who’ll take care of them if we leave?” Luke asks, his throat already tight with imminent tears.</p><p>Beru closes her eyes and Luke feels her grief in waves. “My family will take care of the grave plots,” she says, squeezing Uncle Owen’s hand again.</p><p>“But why are we going?” Luke asks, grasping out for something, anything. “What’s so dangerous that we have to leave?”</p><p>Ben clears his throat and says, “A trusted old friend got in contact with me, today. He went to some pains to send me the message. Emperor Vader is coming here, to Tatooine, to lead the Imperial campaign against the slavers.” He turns to look at Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen, and says, “You can’t be here when he arrives.”</p><p>“But what does any of that have to do with us?” Luke asks, despite the thrill of fear down his spine at the Emperor’s name.</p><p>“You remember what we talked about,” Uncle Owen says, looking him in the eye. “The Empire looks for people like you. People who can do the things you can. Vader especially.”</p><p>Luke can’t help the tears anymore, swipes them away angrily. A chair scrapes back, across the table. “We’re leaving because of me?”</p><p>“You,” Aunt Beru says, putting her warm hands on his shoulders, then framing his face, “are the most important part of our lives.”</p><p>When Luke says good-bye to Biggs, he can’t even tell him where he’s going.</p>
<hr/><p>The increasingly rundown moisture farm next door has been empty for a long time and Amma clicks her tongue at it every few days, muttering on her breath about what a shame it is. Bodhi’s fourteen when it’s bought suddenly, sight unseen, by some offworlder family.</p><p>“Strange days, when Jedha’s safer than the rest of the galaxy,” jokes Hashim Uncle over chai. “But who am I to argue with someone willing to take that property off my hands?”</p><p>“Will they fix it up, at least?” Amma asks.</p><p>“Oh, yes! The buyer says his family are moisture farmers,” Hashim says cheerfully. “Some new paint, some new vaporators, and I’m sure everything will be back in working order. Or at least that’s what my engineering appraisers say.”</p><p>“So long as they are good people,” Abbu says peaceably.</p><p>“Yes, yes, of course,” Hashim agrees hurriedly. “Good, decent people. Not of the Path, but.” He shrugs. “One must not judge, isn’t that what the Teachers say?”</p><p>“Brother, all paths lead to the Force, eventually,” Amma says.</p><p>The family arrives late afternoon on a Khamiday, travel weary and underdressed for the brisk spring weather. A couple, with a kid, Bodhi observes as he passes their open courtyard door on his way back from Kavi’s house. Later, in the evening, Divya barges into Bodhi’s room, which faces the alley they share with the farm, plopping down on his bed, and saying, “Are they interesting? The new neighbors.”</p><p>“Shouldn’t you be studying?” Bodhi huffs, pushing her away. Divya’s studying at the Central University in the New City now, her aspiration of becoming a teacher like Abbu suddenly possible now that the university is open again.</p><p>Divya shrugs. “Maybe, but right now I need a break.”</p><p>“No, you’re just <em>nosy</em>,” Bodhi says.</p><p>“I am,” Divya agrees, shameless. “So, are they interesting?”</p><p>Bodhi shrugs, looking out. His window’s directly across from one of the farm’s bedrooms and offers an angled look into their courtyard, filled with vaporators, and the small rundown greenhouse. Glancing up from his literature homework, Bodhi’d seen the blond-haired boy, at least for a while.</p><p>“The kid seems to like starship models?” Bodhi offers. He’d caught sight of the boy oh-so-carefully lift a few models out of a box and set them on a shelf, pressing one to his chest in a hug. Bodhi had looked away then, let the kid nurse his sadness unobserved.</p><p>Divya ruffles his hair and says, “You two’ll get along great then.”</p><p>Bodhi bats her hands away. “Ugh, can you <em>get out</em>?”</p>
<hr/><p>Ben only travels with them as far as Mos Eisley.</p><p>“You’re not coming with us?” Luke asks, feeling his stomach drop. He knows it doesn’t make any sense, but he’d imagined that Ben would be with them, at least.</p><p>“You’ll see me again, Luke,” Ben promises. “But for now, an old friend has asked me to join him and his family on Alderaan. Now that I know you’ll all be safe, I think it may be past time I took him up on his offer.”</p><p>Ben waves to them from the landing bay until they’re too high to pick him out except as an indistinct shape. And then Tatooine is behind them.</p><p>The journey takes days, with multiple stops. Luke eats strange foods, sitting on top of the crates of stuff they’ve brought from Tatooine, kicking his feet and watching the people, the bustle of one spaceport after another. There seem to be an impossible number of people, everywhere they go.</p><p>When they disembark on Jedha, Luke stares at the layers of murals and projected holoimages on the sandstone walls — spikes of oddly glowing crystals in cupped hands, and poetic slogans heralding Jedha’s new membership in the Commonwealth of Democratic Star Systems.</p><p>Beneath all of it, something seems to call to him, like the wind back home.</p><p>Luke doesn’t know what until the third day they’re in their new home, when he wanders away from the unpacking and vaporator repairs to climb up to the roof and look out. It’s chilly and it’s windy, gusts whipping through his hair. Luke can’t see much. Just other rooftops, some with vaporators, like theirs, some with clothes lines or little glass rooms — but beyond them, behind them, rises a massive, soaring spire. A heavy crown on the skyline.</p><p>The droid who’d driven them and their belongings from the spaceport in the New City had called it the Kyber Temple, glimpses of it appearing through alleys and disappearing behind buildings. Now, Luke can see it in its full splendor.</p><p>It’s like the shock of making it into shelter during a sandstorm.</p><p>Certainty rushes up into Luke’s blood. <em>There</em>. He’s meant to go there.</p>
<hr/><p>“We should say hello to the new family,” Amma decides at dinner. “Tomorrow, before communal prayers, we’ll knock on the door and welcome them.”</p><p>Bodhi knows this is a decree, not an invitation for commentary, so he just keeps eating and concentrates on the racing announcers in the background — it’d be more satisfying to be watching, but his mother’s dining table is sacred, no matter if Bodhi’s pocket money is riding on his favorite pilot beating Javed’s.</p><p>Abbu murmurs something approving about the plan and the meal and Amma’s will rolls forward, as intended.</p><p>So the next morning, Bodhi lurks behind his parents with Divya while a tired-looking blond woman and even more tired-looking darker haired man answer the door. The boy with the starship models bounds up a moment behind them, craning around his parents to wave at them at all. Divya grins and waves back, so Bodhi does too.</p><p>“Hello,” Amma says. “We’re your neighbors, just over there.” She gestures towards their house, taller and thinner than the farm, but built of the same pink-orange clay so common to the Old City.</p><p>There’s a long round of introductions — the new neighbors are Owen and Beru, and the boy, Luke, is their nephew, not their son; the Rook’s eldest isn’t here today, yes, she’s at a shift at the hospital in the Royal Quarter — while the wind blows.</p><p>Luke wanders out and listens with rapt attention while Divya and Bodhi point out the important sights of the neighborhood. Divya’s choices skew too much toward libraries and chai stalls that poets once frequented, so Bodhi makes sure to show Luke where the mechanic’s shop is and where to buy the best after-school snacks.</p><p>“Oh. And this is for you,” Amma finally says, handing over a dish of milk sweets.</p><p>“That’s very generous. You should come in,” Beru says, though even Bodhi can tell she’s too overwhelmed. “Have some . . . tea?” She runs a hand through her hair. “Do people drink cactus blossom tea here?”</p><p>Owen squeezes her shoulder.</p><p>Abbu chuckles in delight. “We do! These city folk don’t appreciate it, but I grew up drinking it everyday!”</p><p>“I don’t like cactus blossom tea,” Luke says in an undertone, looking up at Bodhi. “Do you?”</p><p>His face is so serious that Bodhi has to smile. “No, not really,” he says. “I think it tastes weird.”</p><p>Luke nods at this, solemnly approving.</p><p>Amma’s continuing her own conversation, telling Beru, “But not today. We must get to the Temple for communal prayers. You will come over to our home for chai, though, when you are ready.”</p><p>That’s a declaration, too, and from Owen and Beru’s quick nods, they understand.</p><p>“You’re going there?” Luke asks, pointing down toward the eastern wall.</p><p>He has a good sense of direction for a kid who just got to the city, Bodhi thinks. Though of course the Temple is the heart of NiJedha, its reason for being.</p><p>“We are,” Abbu agrees, good-naturedly.</p><p>Luke turns to his aunt and uncle and immediately asks, “Can I go, too?”</p><p>“Luke!” Owen says, reprimanding, motioning him over.</p><p>Luke keeps his feet planted. “Please!” he says, sounding strangely serious suddenly.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” Beru says, looking at Amma and shaking her head. “He’s been so curious about it, but there’s so much to do. Luke, come inside.”</p><p>Luke’s eyebrows draw together like a storm front, but he does as he’s told. Bodhi wants to assure him he’s not missing out on too much, but he’d hate being stuck in the house, too.</p><p>Abbu and Amma share a look and then Abbu says, “It would be no trouble for him to come along. There is no greater pleasure for us than to show someone our Temple.”</p><p>Luke lights up, but his aunt and uncle look distinctly dubious, until Amma and Abbu are able to talk them around with promises that they have decades of experience wrangling wayward children and one more will hardly be a burden.</p><p>Bodhi thinks he ought to be offended — he’s polite at Temple, ever since they’ve gone back. Maybe he and Kavi used to play stone-scissors-cloth during the quarterly orations, but that was years ago now, and anyway, they’re truly too boring to pay attention the whole time. Even his eldest sister Asha agrees.</p><p>But Luke looks absolutely delighted to be going to a perfectly ordinary morning communal prayer, and his endless excited questions about everything they pass makes the walk, with its unnecessary number of stairs, more fun than usual.</p><p>“It’s <em>beautiful</em>,” Luke says, stopping abruptly, when they’re at the gates of the Temple.</p><p>For a moment, Bodhi can see the Temple as if it’s his first time. He’s never had that experience, because he’s been coming since before he remembers, since before he could walk. But Luke’s wide eyes shake it new again. It becomes what it is, beneath the familiarity: ancient, awe-inspiring.</p><p>“Yeah,” Bodhi agrees. “It is.”</p>
<hr/><p>The crystals sing, softly, like a thousand tiny voices.</p><p>“What are they?” Luke asks, quiet as he can, his knees folded under him, copying everyone else.</p><p>“It’s called kyber,” Bodhi whispers. “It grows here and it protects us. The crystals are connected to the Force. Well. We all are, or we’re supposed to be. Everything that’s alive has the Force.” Bodhi looks over, like he’s not sure he’s explaining well, but Luke thinks he is.</p><p>He’s still surprised, though. Luke thought the Force was a secret, something that could only be spoken about in private, carefully. Ben had explained it differently, kind of, on Tatooine. He had told Luke that the Force was the same thing the Freehold calls the soul, the part of everyone that is always free. That it’s what connects everything alive, that it’s why Luke can walk into clouds of other people’s feelings.</p><p>Luke knows he isn’t supposed to say anything about that. It’s their most important rule. But if Bodhi knows about the Force, if he can just talk about it like that, if everyone here is murmuring under their breath, facing the crystals, then maybe Luke isn’t alone.</p><p>“Can you hear them, too?” he asks, in a whisper, his heart fluttering rapidly in his chest.</p><p>“Hear what?” Bodhi asks, looking down at Luke. He’s confused and genuine about it.</p><p>Luke feels a crash of disappointment in his stomach. He’s too old to start crying in a public place, surrounded by new strangers.</p><p>“Luke?” Bodhi asks.</p><p>Someone makes a sharp shushing noise from behind them.</p><p>Divya leans over, holding her scarf where it’s slipping down over her hair. “You boys okay?”</p><p>“He’s tired,” Mrs. Rook says, looking now, too. She reminds him of Great-Aunt Ozmay, with that expression, sympathetic eyes and endless practicality and Luke wishes everyone wouldn’t look at him. “Bodhi, take him to get some water.”</p><p>Luke follows Bodhi blindly, letting him keep a hold of the shoulder of Luke’s jacket as they shuffle through the crowd towards the edge of the courtyard. Even the walls seem to hum with the same lifted feeling Luke always got watching the suns set back home on Tatooine.</p><p>“Come on,” Bodhi says, leading him toward a set of stairs, “there’s a water tap down here.”</p><p>It’s an old pump, and Bodhi gets it working. Luke cups his hands below the icy stream, then gulps it down, the cold water making his body feel present again.</p><p>“You are curious about the kyber?” a voice asks from behind them.</p><p>Luke jumps, turning around to find the voice. It’s a man in long, blue robes. His eyes are clouded, but his head is tilted toward Luke and he’s smiling slightly, holding a wooden staff in one hand.</p><p>Luke shivers, his hands still damp. Bodhi dips his head towards the man quickly and says quietly to Luke, “It’s okay. He’s a Guardian. They take care of the Temple. They know everything about it. He could answer your questions.”</p><p>“Well,” laughs the man. “I may not know <em>everything</em>, but,” he leans in conspiratorially, “I do know quite a lot. The kyber is like us, you see. It conducts the Force and contains it. ” He turns his face to Luke. “Can you feel it, the way the kyber channels the Force all around us?”</p><p>Luke takes a stumbling step back.</p><p>The man’s smile is softer this time, gentle. “You do not need to be afraid here. Jedha is the Holy City, and the Temple is its heart. Here, people understand what a gift it is, to be like us.”</p><p>Luke gasps — can he mean —</p><p>“The Force drew you here,” the Guardian says. “You heard its call, didn’t you? It was the same for me.”</p><p>“Yes,” Luke says, drawn closer to him, heedless of Bodhi’s stifled noise of surprise, behind him. “I, I had to come, I just knew it.”</p><p>“Then welcome, little brother,” the Guardian says, with a bright, broad smile. “I’m Chirrut Îmwe. And you are?”</p>
<hr/><p>“I like them,” Abbu declares, that evening, after telling Asha about their new neighbors.</p><p>Asha laughs and kisses him on the cheek. “Of course you do. You found yourself a little instant convert who’s never heard any of your quotations."</p><p>“He’s a sweet boy,” Amma says. “Bodhi, you watch out for him, when you’re going to school.”</p><p>Bodhi shrugs and nods, bites off a mouthful of flatbread. He's trying to escape notice.</p><p>“I’m serious,” Amma says, pointing a finger. Her eyes go flinty. “That boy looks too dreamy. He doesn’t know the streets like you do.”</p><p>Bodhi wants to soothe her, point out that things are better now. But mostly he wants the conversation to move along, because he promised Luke he wouldn't say a word about what happened at the Temple, what the Guardian had said to him. It isn’t like before, but Bodhi understands why Luke would be afraid. And a promise, even to a nine year old neighbor, is a serious thing.</p><p>Thankfully Amma seems appeased.</p><p>As the weeks roll by, Bodhi walks with Luke to school, and keeps half an eye out for him there, though it becomes clear pretty quickly that’s not necessary. Luke seems inclined to make friends, displaying an ease around strangers Bodhi would almost envy if he didn’t hate the idea of so many eyes on him. Within two weeks, Luke’s found his way into the little gang of scrappy kids Bodhi’s baby cousin Shabana runs around with, all bloodthirsty about getting high scores at the rundown arcade in Kalakar Bazaar but otherwise quick to laugh.</p><p>Luke keeps coming with Bodhi and his family to the Temple, too. Luke’s eyes light up when he sees the Guardian they met, and in turn the Guardian always gestures Luke over. Watching them talk, Bodhi sometimes wonders what it would be like, to be able to feel the Force like that, to be always aware of its omnipresence.</p>
<hr/><p>Luke is newly ten when he experiences rain for the first time.</p><p>He’s been on Jedha long enough that he’s heard about the monsoon, seen pictures and recordings of it even. In school (and that’s still weird for him, attending school with other kids, week after week without any long stretches by himself on the farm) everyone talks about the monsoon like an inevitability. A matter of months, then weeks, then days, it has to be, someone’s cousin in Behaan (so close, just a train ride away!) said the clouds have come there already, and the weather always slides north.</p><p>Luke almost believes them, because they believe themselves. But in his life, water has always been something made, not indiscriminately, mysteriously given.</p><p>He's over at the Rook's house, because Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru have gone down to the local droid labor bureau, to find some seasonal help. It's only him and Bodhi in the house, but that's fun, almost like being grown up. They’re up in Bodhi’s room, and Bodhi’s doing homework at his little desk while Luke lies on the carpet on his stomach, scrolling idly through a manual on how to build garden digger bots. Luke thinks that’d be a good present for Aunt Beru, if he can figure out how to get the parts. She’s trying to get their greenhouse to produce, after years of being left to neglect.</p><p>Then a low murmur starts up outside, the sound proliferating and deepening. The air around them changes in the strangest way, growing thicker. Bodhi tilts his head, like he’s listening, and then turns around, scraping his chair against the floor. In one bounding step, he crosses the room, scrambles up onto his bed, and throws open his window.</p><p>Luke gasps.</p><p>It’s <em>raining</em>. Sheets of water pouring down from the sky.</p><p>Like he’s compelled, Luke pushes to his feet and joins Bodhi at the window. Bodhi’s got his forearms resting on the window sill and he’s leaning forward, breathing in the rain. Slowly, tentatively, because he’s almost afraid that it will all disappear, all have been a dream, Luke extends his hand out, into the rain. But it’s <em>real</em>. There’s natural water spilling over Luke’s cupped palm.</p><p>“This happens every year?” Luke asks, needing the confirmation. That seems too good to be true.</p><p>The alley between their homes is already sluicing with dust-flecked rain, running down the buildings into the rainwater capture barrels that had just yesterday seemed only to be helpful stepping stones to climbing over courtyard walls.</p><p>“Every year,” Bodhi agrees, from his side.</p><p>“Wow,” Luke says.</p><p>Bodhi laughs. “Yeah, it’s something, huh?”</p><p>Luke nods, because the feeling in his chest is too big for words. He wishes Biggs were here and could see this. Rain is real and it smells like soil and hope.</p><p>Bodhi sticks his head further out the window, so the water gets in his hair, and then darts a look around, like he’s a con in the holofilms. When he pulls back in, he asks, “You wanna go outside?”</p><p>Luke gapes. He imagines it now, getting to stand in the alley under the rain like a tree, the water sliding down his skin. “People do that?” he asks, because the idea is so shockingly wonderful he can’t quite hold onto it.</p><p>Bodhi grins and hops up. “It’s your first monsoon. It’s practically a rule that you have to go jump in some puddles.”</p><p>Jumping in puddles with Bodhi is worth every minute of the lecture he gets when Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru find them in the street, both soaked through, hair plastered to their faces.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This story is complete and the following chapters are in the beta/editing process now, so rest assured this fic will be completed and posted in a timely manner! :D</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bodhi’s sixteen when his eldest sister Asha starts bringing Arvind around to the house. He’s one of the other trainee doctors at the hospital with Asha. The only thing Bodhi bothered to notice about him before Asha began to bring him along to the Temple and home for family lunches, though, was his hair. Arvind somehow always looks a bit like he’s been through a windstorm not long before. Bodhi and Divya have argued about whether that’s on purpose or not. Divya is an advocate of the theory that Arvind simply doesn’t own a hair brush, while Bodhi feels there’s no way to just end up with hair like that with such consistency if he isn’t <em>doing </em>something.</p>
<p>But now things have changed, because this kind of formality, the extravagant compliments Arvind bestows on Amma and Abbu’s cooking, the way Asha and Arvind seems to angle regularly for their families to just happen to bump into each other, can only mean one thing.</p>
<p>They’re getting ready to start the courting process, and they want everyone on board first.</p>
<p>“It’s too soon,” Divya moans, pulling down on her cheeks. “If Asha gets married at twenty-three, it’ll set a <em>precedent</em>!” She groans and throws herself down on the living room divan.</p>
<p>“Maybe they’re not planning on getting married right away?” Bodhi asks, dubiously. It’s not likely, when telling everyone how serious you are about each other is sort of the whole point of courting, but he’s not sold on Arvind yet.</p>
<p>The one thing he’s definitely sold on <em>about</em> Arvind, though, is his speeder. It’s gorgeous, the kind of thing Bodhi stares after when it comes zooming through Market Square. Arvind’s from one of those <em>zamindar</em> families, the kind whose money comes from outside the City, from some sprawling greenhouse estate that’s actually run by the staff.</p>
<p>Bodhi would probably just dislike Arvind on instinct if Asha didn’t laugh so easily at Arvind’s jokes. As it is, the prolonged exposure is mostly making Bodhi feeling distantly pitying for Arvind. He’s trying so hard, talking to Bodhi about flying, to Abbu and Divya about poetry, inquiring seriously about the embroidery Amma and her fellow tailors are working on for someone’s wedding.</p>
<p>One afternoon, Bodhi and Javed are sitting on Bodhi's front stoop playing cards — Javed’s clearly starting to get suspicious about Bodhi’s winning streak, but really, he should have gotten more observant by now — when Arvind comes sailing up in his sleek speeder.</p>
<p>Javed whistles under his breath. “You weren’t kidding, it’s something,” he says to Bodhi.</p>
<p>Arvind hops out and grins at them. “Bodhi,” he nods.</p>
<p>Bodhi nods back. As often as Arvind’s around these days, Bodhi can’t yet return the friendly ease that Arvind alway directs towards him, though he maybe ought to try harder. “This is Javed. His mum’s the one who owns Gulab Sweets?”</p>
<p>“Best milk sweets in Kalakar Bazaar,” Arvind says, automatic, which Javed grins and nods at, because it’s true.</p>
<p>“You’ve got a hell of a speeder, brother,” Javed says, admitting to his envy easily. Bodhi can never do that and it’s one of the things he likes best about Javed.</p>
<p>Arvind grins. “She handles just as well as they say, too.”</p>
<p>“One day, eh?” Javed says, elbowing Bodhi.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I mean, we wish,” Bodhi mutters.</p>
<p>Arvind glances around, like he’s checking for spies and then leans toward them. “You two have your licenses yet?”</p>
<p>“Yes!” Bodhi says, quickly.</p>
<p>He’s telling the truth, sort of. Javed and he both got their speeder <em>bike </em>licenses as soon as they could. It was for the giddy freedom of it, but it was practical enough to appease their parents, too. Speeder bikes are common in the crowded Old City and both their families own them. But neither of them have their full speeder licenses. Bodhi’s a good pilot, though, and that’s what really matters here. Hopefully.</p>
<p>Arvind glances over at his speeder, then back at them. Bodhi tries not to appear too eager. The moment stretches out, tension elongating in Bodhi’s chest.</p>
<p>Finally, Arvind reaches into his pockets and tosses Bodhi some keys. Bodhi fumbles, then catches them and holds them close.</p>
<p>“Why don’t you try taking her out for a spin?” Arvind says, coming up the stoop, then walking past them to the door. He turns back and winks. “Just be sure to bring her back in one piece.”</p>
<p>Bodhi scrambles to his feet, grinning. Arvind’s probably trying to bribe his way to brotherly approval but in this instance, Bodhi’s not above taking advantage.</p>
<p>“Thanks!” he says. Once Arvind’s safely in the house, the door closes, Bodhi whoops and jumps down the rest of the steps. “Come on!” he says, beckoning Javed.</p>
<p>Javed stands, but doesn’t move any further, worrying his lip between his teeth.</p>
<p>“What are you waiting for?” Bodhi demands. “He told us to take it!”</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” Javed says, running his fingers up and down over the line of buttons on his kurta. “I mean it’s not,” his voice drops, “legal.”</p>
<p>“It’s just a little flying!” Bodhi implores, because they’re so close to the thrill of the wind in their hair, the smooth speed of a high-end speeder, and he can’t give that up before even trying. “I mean, when are we going to get a chance to pilot something this nice?”</p>
<p>Javed nods and sighs, and Bodhi can see the moment he’s won out. “Okay,” Javed says, sweeping up the cards into his pocket and hopping down the steps. “Let’s do it!”</p>
<p>Bodhi grins so hard it almost hurts. He slips into the pilot’s seat, and revs the engine. The power behind the purr makes Bodhi laugh and Javed slap his side of the speeder.</p>
<p>“Where to?” Bodhi asks, raising his eyebrows.</p>
<p>“Away!” Javed says, pointing in front of them. “And fast!”</p>
<p>“Thought you’d never ask,” Bodhi says, getting the speeder in gear and pulling out, navigating his way out of their small backstreet to the inner ring road, where he immediately picks up speed. His heart beat picks up too, hammering with the stolen joy of the moment.</p>
<p>The speeder handles exactly as well as Arvind promised. It’s <em>lithe</em>, slipping through traffic, and so quick to respond it’s almost like an extension of Bodhi’s will, almost like they’re becoming wind together. Bodhi takes a turn, bringing them out toward the open space of —</p>
<p>“Bahadur Plaza!” Javed whoops. “You’re brilliant, you are.”</p>
<p>Bodhi only grins. The daytime market’s folded up and packed away, the crowds of shoppers long since dispersed and the plaza makes the perfect go-round track, the little sanctuary at the center serving as the spoke. They slip around the curve of the plaza, creating their own breeze, rustling the hardy vines climbing the buildings. It makes Bodhi feel like singing, calls up the same pressing-out in his chest as when the <em>qawwals</em> cry their devotion to the Force.</p>
<p>Javed throws up in his arms in victory pose.</p>
<p>Then, from behind them, a siren lights up.</p>
<p>“Oh fuck!” Javed yells, immediately drawing his arms down and clapping his hands to his face.</p>
<p>Bodhi glances behind him and then, with the sinking realization that of course he’s not about to start a career as a hardened criminal today, slows and pulls aside at one end of the plaza. The speeder bike buzzes up behind them.</p>
<p>“This is bad,” Javed mumbles, muffled from beneath his intertwined hands, which are now clutched together in front of his face, as if he’s praying.</p>
<p>“I know,” Bodhi says, a roiling misery proliferating in his gut.</p>
<p>“I’d like to see your license, please,” a woman’s clipped voice says, growing closer.</p>
<p>And oh <em>no</em>. That voice is very, very familiar. Bodhi keeps looking forward, hoping it won’t be true. But Javed is already shaking his head in Bodhi’s peripheral vision and beginning a litany of anguished curses.</p>
<p>“Do you know how fast — eh, <em>Javed</em>?” the woman asks, her footsteps stopping by Bodhi’s side of the speeder.</p>
<p>Bodhi finally turns his head, accepting the inevitable. Apparently it’s Javed’s cousin Leyla’s turn in the cycle to be plaza warden this evening. And her glare is targeted and laser sharp.</p>
<p>“We didn’t steal it!” Javed blurts out, one hand reaching out toward Leyla. “We had permission!”</p>
<p>“Permission! What permission? You can’t even drive a speeder!” Leyla says, taking a half step back and crossing her arms. She follows that up by tossing her thick, dark braid of hair over her shoulder with a contempt-filled jerk of her head. “And you!” she says, pointing a finger at Bodhi. “Always dragging each other into trouble!”</p>
<p>Like everyone in Javed’s family, Leyla has a very powerful accusatory finger shake. Khadijah Aunty could probably shame thieves into paying double price for anything they tried to take, and Leyla’s well on her way there, considering how many fewer years of practice she’s had.</p>
<p>“Hi, sister?” Bodhi finally manages in a tiny, croaking voice.</p>
<p>“<em>Hi, sister?</em>” she repeats. She flicks the fingers of her left hand at Bodhi, bordering on an obscene gesture. “Whose speeder is this, anyway? I know it doesn’t belong to either of you.”</p>
<p>“It’s Bodhi’s sister’s boyfriend’s,” Javed says quickly. He’s too used to Leyla bossing him around to have any defenses against her interrogatory skills. Though of course if Bodhi had grown up in the same house as her, he’d probably be the same.</p>
<p>“This boyfriend, he’s an idiot as well as negligent, then?” Leyla asks Bodhi, though it feels less like a question than a judgement.</p>
<p>Bodhi’s conscience is gnawing at his gut, so with blood rushing to his face and the back of his neck going hot, he admits, “It’s possible I, uh, may not have specified that we only have our bike licences to him? So it’s, um, I mean, it’s not really his fault?”</p>
<p>“Don’t worry. There’s fault enough for everyone,” Leyla says dryly. “Come on, get out. I’m going to have to write you a hell of a ticket. And then I’m taking each of you home.”</p>
<p>Bodhi contemplates asking to be brought to the community dispute board instead, just to prolong the time before he has to face his parents’ lecture.</p>
<p>Leyla gestures definitively, though. “That wasn’t a suggestion, boys. Get out!”</p>
<hr/>
<p>Today, Luke decides he’s finally going to ask his question.</p>
<p>He’s started coming to the Temple sometimes during the week, too, after school, to talk with Chirrut and the other Guardians. Some days, they give him tea and a recitation of one mysterious poem or another before waving him off to the tram stop, and other days they’ll tell him to sit and close his eyes and feel the wind on his skin, hear the movement of the people around him. But on the best days they let him lurk in the back of the novices’ lessons and watch them move like their staves are extensions of themselves.</p>
<p>Owen and Beru still worry about people knowing. But Luke can tell it’s a relief for them, too, that there’s somewhere for Luke to go. And someone they can ask about what Luke can do, now that Ben’s far away.</p>
<p>And it’s wonderful, it really is, to realize there’s others like him, and that they don’t need to hide here. There is no one coming to take them away, no haunting monsters hunting them. It’s a freedom Luke never knew to imagine, before Jedha.</p>
<p>But it’s not enough! Luke wants to be like Chirrut and Baze and their brothers and sisters in their dark blue and blood red robes, for whom the Temple is not only the holiest sanctuary, but home. Luke belongs here, at the Temple. He knows it deep in his marrow. And today, he’s going to figure out how to make it happen. He’s not going let the full Guardians gently demur, say that he’ll have time when he’s older. Not today.</p>
<p>That thought firmly in place, he gets up from where he’s been half-watching Lian leading some of the older novices through a series of katas in one of the courtyards, and marches off to find Chirrut.</p>
<p>Luke’s been getting better at that lately, finding people. He didn’t know he could, until recently. But Chirrut’s been teaching him breathing exercises and sometimes it’s like adjusting the focus on a pair of macrobinoculars — all of the sudden, settling clarity. It never lasts long, but that makes Luke want it all the more.</p>
<p>Chirrut’s in one of the secondary courtyards of the Guardian’s living quarters, with some of the other Guardians. He’s cleaning the parts of his disassembled lightbow. Luke plops himself down on the side of Chirrut’s laid-out pieces and the red cloth they all sit on.</p>
<p>“When can I train like the novices?” Luke asks. “What do I have to do?”</p>
<p>“Ah, hello, little brother, how are you today? How go your studies?” Chirrut asks, with a friendly smile.</p>
<p>It’s a reminder to be polite and not so impatient that he forgets all courtesy, Luke knows it is, so he catches himself before huffing.</p>
<p>“I’m well, thank you. School is good. We’re learning about hyperspace flight right now and it’s interesting,” Luke says, making himself keep to a deliberate pace. “How are you?”</p>
<p>"Doing very well! We begin the preparation for this year's Return soon," Chirrut says, wiping down a lightbow part and carefully setting it aside. "We will need volunteers, of course. Perhaps you would like to help."</p>
<p>"Yes, please," Luke agrees. He’s pleased with the invitation, but it’s not what he’s here for. He’d already planned to help during the Return.</p>
<p>Chirrut nods. “Tell Lian on your way out. She helps with the younger volunteers.”</p>
<p>Luke nods and picks at his boot laces for a second, wondering when they’ll pick up the question he really wants to get to.</p>
<p>Chirrut tips his head to the side a bit and smiles slyly. “Would you like to see the lightbow assembled?”</p>
<p>“Yeah!” Luke says, sitting up straight. The Guardians must practice with their bowcasters some time but he’s never seen it. He’d hardly know what they were if the Guardians on patrol didn’t sometimes carry them, assembled or folded up.</p>
<p>So for a while he’s distracted by Chirrut’s sure movements, watching the parts click into one another, until the whole has come together.</p>
<p>“How does it look?” Chirrut asks, hefting it up.</p>
<p>“Good,” Luke says. He pauses and then adds, truthfully, “Dangerous.”</p>
<p>“Yes,” Chirrut agrees. “A weapon of last resort.” He sets it down again carefully and begins disassembling it again. “Only to be used when the Temple is truly threatened. A Guardian must always reach for restraint and compassion first.”</p>
<p>Luke nods. Restraint. Luke’s not good at that. He knows he jumps into things, but he thinks he could learn.</p>
<p>Chirrut carefully packs away the parts of his lightbow, slotting the parts into pockets sewn into a dark cloth, then rolls it up. When it’s securely tied, he holds it out by the strap for Luke to take.</p>
<p>“Walk with me,” he says.</p>
<p>Luke shoulders the packed up lightbow and follows Chirrut. It’s heavy. It must be hard to lift when it’s assembled.</p>
<p>“Most of our Guardians dedicate themselves to the Temple between the ages of twelve and fifteen, if they’re human,” Chirrut says, leading Luke into the living quarters for married Guardians. “It is a very serious decision.”</p>
<p>“I’m serious!” Luke protests.</p>
<p>Chirrut squeezes his shoulder and laughs. “Ah, I know that. But you have been on Jedha this long. You know by now — the initial refusal is a test and an opportunity. Only those who truly care will persist in asking.” They’ve reached the door of Chirrut and Baze’s quarters and Luke punches the button to make the door slide open.</p>
<p>“By the closet, please,” Chirrut says, motioning, as he proceeds further in, taking out a teapot.</p>
<p>Luke knows not to try to have an important conversation while Chirrut’s making tea. He’s very particular about tea. Baze says fussy, but Chirrut says that’s because Baze doesn’t appreciate the delicate art of tea making and it’s not like Luke knows enough to say who’s right. Still, he does know to sit quietly, legs crossed, on one of the cushions by the tea table until Chirrut comes over and pours them each a steaming cup of the aromatic tea, before coming back to the reason he’s at the Temple today.</p>
<p>Chirrut takes a sip from his cup and hums in satisfaction. “Now, I believe you had something to discuss,” he says.</p>
<p>“Yes. Can I become a Guardian?” Luke finally asks, holding his tea cup and letting the warmth seep through the porcelain into his palms. “Please?”</p>
<p>“We will only know the answer to that many years from now,” Chirrut says. “But!” he grins now. “There is a ceremony you may undertake, to become a novice. You are eleven now?”</p>
<p>“Almost twelve!” Luke says eagerly.</p>
<p>“We must wait for your birthday to pass, so you are of proper age,” Chirrut replies, “and you must have the permission of your family. Pledging your life to the Temple is not a decision just for you.”</p>
<p>Luke nods and grins, feeling warmth blossom in his chest. He wriggles a little on his cushion because of the excitement, even though he’s too old for that.</p>
<p>The warmth stays with him all the way home.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Bodhi’s sprawled out on his bed half-heartedly picking his way through some discarded novel of Divya’s, even though the sun is shining and the wind is carrying the scent of scrub flowers. After his little run-in with the law the other day, his freedom of movement has been severely restricted by decree of Amma.</p>
<p>Arvind, at least, had been cool about it, slipping out to speak with Leyla and pay the ticket, and later asking Bodhi how fast he’d been going. When Bodhi told him, Arvind had grinned and winked, whispering, “<em>Nice</em>,” before straightening up and listening shamefacedly to Asha’s berating.</p>
<p>Stuck inside, Bodhi’s stewing in boredom already. He’s zoned out, thinking about Kavi’s message earlier, saying she wished he could come out kite flying — the Air Festival’s coming up and they always practice together, trying to cut down each other’s kites and falling over laughing. He wants to be there on her roof, testing the wind, watching it play through her hair.</p>
<p>“Hey! Hey, Bodhi!” a faint voice filters into Bodhi’s room. Bodhi sits up and looks around, until out the window, he spots the speaker.</p>
<p>Luke’s half dangling out his own window, across the alley.</p>
<p>“Get back inside!” Bodhi says, shifting over to his own window and waving frantically even though it can’t make any difference at this distance.</p>
<p>“It’s fine!” Luke huffs, but he does as requested and Bodhi’s heart rate recovers.</p>
<p>“You’re going to fall out one day,” Bodhi says, shaking his head.</p>
<p>“No, I won’t,” Luke says, with that eerily equanimous confidence that means somehow he <em>knows </em>he’s telling the truth. Then he launches on, “Shabana says the arcade’s got a new flight sim game and it’s an X-Wing! She’s gonna hold a place in line. You wanna come?”</p>
<p>A new flight sim game, a starfighter one especially, sounds fantastic. But then being let out the door for anything other than school sounds fantastic.</p>
<p>“Can’t,” Bodhi grimaces. “I’m, uh, not really supposed to leave the house right now.”</p>
<p>“Why?” Luke asks.</p>
<p>Bodhi considers whether telling the truth means he’s being a bad influence, then decides lying’s probably worse. And Luke’s developing quite the glare in response to anyone he thinks is lying to him. “I got a ticket for speeding and driving a speeder without a full license, the other day.”</p>
<p>“Oh,” Luke says, his eyes going wide. He purses his lips for a moment and then eagerly asks, “How fast were you going?”</p>
<p>Bodhi laughs. The community wardens of NiJedha are just lucky Luke’s far too young to get in the pilot’s seat of any speeders. “Really fast,” Bodhi admits, unable to suppress his smile.</p>
<p>Luke gives an approving nod. “Was it worth it?” he asks.</p>
<p>“Absolutely,” Bodhi confesses, feeling an echo of that sheer joy.</p>
<p>Luke grins back. “Cool!” he says.</p>
<p>“Don’t get any ideas,” Bodhi warns, though he can’t help the affection in his voice. “I’m not taking the blame for you starting a life of crime.”</p>
<p>“Going fast shouldn’t be a crime,” Luke says, shaking his head.</p>
<p>“Yeah, well,” Bodhi says, clicking his tongue and shrugging. “The city council doesn’t agree.”</p>
<p>“You want anything from the sweet shop?” Luke asks, drumming his fingers on his windowsill. “I could bring something back.”</p>
<p>“Nah,” Bodhi says. “Just be sure to beat Shabana’s high score on the game, huh?”</p>
<p>“Obviously!” Luke says with a bright grin. He waves and then shoves himself away from the window.</p>
<p>Bodhi settles back on his bed and back into his daydreams — kites and X-Wings and other flying things tumbling through his thoughts.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Two weeks after Luke’s twelfth birthday, he decides it’s time to seize the moment. Poking circumspectly around the topic with Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru hasn’t gotten him anywhere, and neither has probing into what they’ve been discussing with Chirrut when they pick him up from the Temple, or walk with him there. Luke knows with a deep certainty that he belongs at the Temple, where the kyber sings with the Force. And he has to do things right, if he wants to become a Guardian.</p>
<p>So he steels himself and decides he’s going to speak with his aunt and uncle at dinner.</p>
<p>“I’d like to do the <em>pavya</em> ceremony at the Temple the next time they do it, in the summer,” Luke announces, after they’ve all started eating.</p>
<p>He keeps his shoulders squared and makes careful, direct eye contact with Aunt Beru, then Uncle Owen, just like the adults back home always did, when they were starting a contract negotiation.</p>
<p>Owen clears his throat and sets down his glass. Beru puts down her spoon. Suddenly the room seems fogged with tension. Luke squirms, then fights down the impulse. He’s gotta be serious, or they won’t listen, not really.</p>
<p>“I want to start training as a novice at the Temple, and you have to do the ceremony first, the whole bunch of you at the same time,” Luke continues. “And I really think I’m ready this year. I’m old enough, and Chirrut’s already been teaching me some stuff.”</p>
<p>“From what I’ve heard, that’s a very serious commitment you’d be entering into,” Uncle Owen says, very neutrally.</p>
<p>That’s his bargaining voice. Luke was hoping it would be easier than this. But he thinks of Chirrut calling what they have a gift, and the feeling of the Temple’s courtyard stone beneath his bare feet, and Ghalib Uncle, Bodhi’s father, saying, “Ah, he feels the call!” when they brought him to the Temple for the very first time.</p>
<p>“I know,” Luke says. “But I’ve thought about it, I really have.”</p>
<p>“Alright,” Aunt Beru says, folding her hands together. “Let’s hear your reasons.”</p>
<p>Luke’s surprise must be evident, because Aunt Beru smiles slightly.</p>
<p>“If you want to make an adult decision, then we shouldn’t treat you like a boy,” Aunt Beru says. Her words are clear and sharp, but her eyes are kind as ever.</p>
<p>Luke breathes in, and nods. He’s ready.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Bodhi is seventeen when he kisses Kavi in her grandmother’s greenhouse, the warm humidity floating around them. It’s his first real kiss.</p>
<p>He kisses her there in the greenhouse, because in the poetry his father quotes, there are always flowers for the beloved, and the rains haven’t come yet, this year. There’s only bloom-withering heat. But in here, they could almost be on another planet entirely, surrounded by delicate blossoms whose colors rival the brightest silks his mother has ever handled.</p>
<p>Bodhi leans in to kiss her among the orchids.</p>
<p>“Oh!” Kavi says, jumping back from his touch, pressing her fingers to her pink mouth in surprise.</p>
<p>Bodhi feels the flush rushing up over his cheeks. He drops his hands from where they’d been stuck — touching Kavi’s bare elbows, just a moment ago. Maybe he shouldn’t have done any of this, but the possibility of it has been swirling around his mind for months. The nape of her neck when her hair’s pulled up, her wrists adorned with bangles, the curve of her ear; all of it is carved into his memory, tinged with desire. But now he’s ruined it all, maybe, the years they’ve known and joked with each other with such ease.</p>
<p>Kavi’s darting her eyes around the greenhouse and blushing, too.</p>
<p>“Could we — could you,” she starts, then she rushes through the rest. “Could you try that again, maybe?”</p>
<hr/>
<p>Even though it doesn’t make any sense, Luke feels shy asking Bodhi. He knows Bodhi will come, if he asks, and that Bodhi’s family will, too. Ghalib Uncle will probably be excited enough for multiple people. But it’s so close to Luke’s soul and some days it still feels like exposing something too vulnerable, to talk with anyone who isn’t one of the Guardians about all of this. But Luke wants Bodhi and his family there.</p>
<p>“I’m going to do the <em>pavya</em> ceremony next week,” Luke says as they walk to school. The monsoon has come and the morning is blessedly misty, cloaking the city in that sense of mystery the detective holoseries always talk about. “I was thinking you could come? You and your family?”</p>
<p>Bodhi stops short and stares at Luke. His eyes have gone wide. “Wow,” he says, blinking.</p>
<p>Luke stops, too, nervously clutching at the straps of his school bag.</p>
<p>“Hey,” Bodhi says, a lopsided grin blooming across his face. “Look at you!” He drops his arm around Luke’s shoulders and shakes him a little and Luke laughs, relieved, leaning into the hug Bodhi pulls him into. “Guardian in the making, huh?” Bodhi says when he pulls back. “Then we’d better not let you be late for school. Gotta start setting a good example for your peers, Skywalker.”</p>
<p>“I’m already doing better than you,” Luke grins, though of course it’s entirely baseless.</p>
<p>Bodhi claps a hand to his chest. “Ouch!” he says, walking backwards for a few steps. “Aren’t your lot supposed to be endlessly compassionate?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, but we have to learn a lot of insults, too,” Luke says, nodding seriously, as they get back under way, weaving through the crowded street, past the produce stalls and the small <em>dhabas</em>, the smell of foods from some dozen star systems drifting out of them. “To yell at any antiquities raiders.”</p>
<p>“Important part of training?” Bodhi asks, grinning back.</p>
<p>“Uh huh,” Luke agrees, feeling some warm satisfaction in his chest.</p>
<p>Bodhi shakes his head, eyes still light with amusement but then says, “Next week. We’ll be there. Of course.”</p>
<p>Luke looks down at his boots and grins.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Bodhi has never been to a <em>pavya</em> ceremony before. He was too young to know anyone who took initiation before the Empire, and then until the Jedha freed itself, there were no new Guardians at all.</p>
<p>Bodhi comes from a devout enough family, but until Luke, he’d never much considered where Guardians come from. They were just there, always, as unquestionably abiding as the Temple itself. Until the Empire. But when they came back, so did the Temple.</p>
<p>As long as there are Guardians, the Temple will stand, and as long as the Temple stands, Jedha will endure. It’s a truth Bodhi’s accepted his whole life without looking closer.</p>
<p>Now, sitting behind Luke, who’s standing with his slight shoulders set, Bodhi feels a shiver of wonder. From today on, Luke, who loves hot chocolate and makes faces over cactus blossom tea, who still has to push himself up to get seated on a speeder bike, who treats the monsoon like a miracle, will be an extension of an institution that has outlasted the Republic.</p>
<p>“Do you come to dedicate yourself to the Temple?” a young Twi’lek Guardian named Lian asks Luke. Down the line, other Guardians are asking their charges the same question.</p>
<p>“I do,” Luke says.</p>
<p>“Kneel,” Lian tells him, smiling down at him.</p>
<p>And Luke does, without hesitation. Around them, the other novices-to-be sink to the ground as well. Lian pulls out a straight razor and Bodhi shifts his weight where he’s sitting. Next to him, Divya takes a hissing breath in. Every novice has to give up some form of physical beauty at least until they pass their tests to become Guardians — for humans, it’s usually hair. Bodhi knew this part was coming, but he doesn’t quite feel the apparently unquestioning trust Luke does, watching Lian get to her knees, holding the razor.</p>
<p>Luke’s blond waves fall to the Temple’s courtyard stones. Out of the corner of his eye, Bodhi sees his mother reach out and squeeze Beru’s hand.</p>
<p>When it’s done, Lian gets to her feet and holds out a hand to Luke, helping him to stand, and then whipping off the dark cloak on his shoulders.</p>
<p>“From today,” Lian tells Luke, “you are our sibling. Your first duty will be to the Force, and the Temple, and the kyber.”</p>
<p>Luke nods up at her.</p>
<p>Then, suddenly, with only one brief burst of thunder as forewarning, the clouds overhead burst and the heavy rain of the monsoon shatters across the Temple courtyard.</p>
<p>As Bodhi scrambles up, following Divya and his parents and the Larses over to a covered grotto, he sees Luke still standing there with Lian, their faces tipped up to the sky, already rain-splattered, laughing.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Luke’s head feels lighter in a strange way, but he feels perfectly balanced, calm somewhere deep in his muscles.</p>
<p>He’s changing out of his wet clothes at home and it’s funny, how everything’s the same in his room, but he’s something more now than who he was when he got dressed this morning.</p>
<p>As he pulls on his fresh, clean clothes, Luke’s mind alights softly on the day, on Lian holding out her hand and Chirrut squeezing his shoulder and smiling. The way his stomach had flipped oddly when Bodhi ran his hand over Luke’s newly shaved head and laughed, and the way his chest had gone tight when Uncle Owen had nodded at him once, solemnly, before pulling him into a brief, tight one-armed hug (somewhere, behind Luke’s eyes, before thought, an image flashed — his grandmother’s smile, her careworn hands).</p>
<p>Luke will remember today, he’s certain of it. Maybe in strange, color-saturated images, maybe in the mineral scent of rain-washed stone.</p>
<p>Luke walks downstairs on light feet, padding into the kitchen, following the scent of something cooking when his soft, almost sleepy quietude abruptly fades.</p>
<p>Standing in front of a simmering pot, Aunt Beru is wiping tears away.</p>
<p>“I made you sad,” Luke says, a sudden sinking in his stomach. He’s caught on the threshold of the kitchen, uncertain.</p>
<p>“Oh, sweetheart, no, I’m so proud of you,” Aunt Beru says, reaching out with open arms.</p>
<p>Luke steps forward immediately and Beru hugs him close the moment he’s within touching distance.</p>
<p>“Then why are you crying?” Luke asks, hugging back tighter.</p>
<p>“It’s so silly, it really is,” she says with a hoarse laugh. “I just miss your hair. You had such sweet hair. It looked like mine, when I was your age. I guess seeing you without it made me realize you’re growing up, that’s all.”</p>
<p>“Oh, Aunt Beru,” Luke laughs, relieved. “It’s okay.” He pulls back slightly from their hug to look at her. “I’ll grow it back, later. Just for you.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>The first time the Commonwealth Fleet recruiter talks to him, Bodhi just laughs nervously. He doesn’t know exactly what he wants to do, not the way Asha and Divya both seemed to at this age. He and Javed and Kavi are all in their final year of school and it feels like they’re surrounded by ambition. It’s a new dawn for Jedha, the possibilities are bright and endless, people say.</p>
<p>Join the Medical Corps, win a place at the University, fly with the Commonwealth Fleet, they say.</p>
<p>Like every year, the temporary structures for the different aptitude tests have been set up in Market Square. Only this year, they’re old enough to enter and do them.</p>
<p>Bodhi sits the flight aptitude tests more for the thrill of it than any actual plan. Of course he’d like to pilot, and of course he’d like to see more of the galaxy — the desire for places new and unknown itches under his skin. He longs to see the smear of hyperspace and the waves of saltwater oceans for himself.</p>
<p>But the Holy City is a place people come back to, not a place they leave.</p>
<p>Bodhi walks into the flight simulator with no real thought that he is paving a path beyond his home. The scenarios are fun, and difficult, and something to brag about later with Javed, while Kavi laughs at them both.</p>
<p>But after the proctors are done filing his results, the Fleet officer on site looks at him with interest, scales rippling red-orange. Xe tilts xer head and says, “You know, you’re pretty good at this. Have you considered applying to the Fleet Academy?”</p>
<p>Bodhi laughs, and shrugs, and mumbles something, though he hardly remembers what later.</p>
<p>The officer continues studying him and reaches into xer pocket, hands him a holocontact card. “If you end up having any questions about life in the Fleet,” xe says.</p>
<p>Bodhi nods back, dipping his chin. Nothing will come of it, of course, he thinks to himself, but it’ll be a nice story someday, that he did well enough to spark the interest of a Commonwealth pilot.</p>
<p>But the card burns a hole in his pocket the entire day and for the rest of the week, his eye keeps floating back over to where it’s sitting on his desk.</p>
<p>“You ever think about going off-moon, when we graduate?” Bodhi asks Kavi, after a few days of this. He wants to reach out and tuck back the strand of curls falling over her face. And he’s allowed to, now, so he does.</p>
<p>She smiles at him and says, “I mean, if we actually could, a trip to Hosnia would be fun, before university starts.”</p>
<p>Bodhi doesn’t say that wasn’t what he meant at all.</p>
<p>When he gets home that evening, he studies the holocontact card details again, picks up his comm, and punches in the code.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Luke goes to the Temple in the mornings before school, most days of the week. He has to wake up while the sky’s still blue-green with the remains of night to catch the tram and arrive at the Temple for dawn prayers. The first few weeks were awful, Luke leaving the house still disoriented, and falling asleep in class in the afternoon. But it’s past autumn harvest now, with Jedha’s natural chill settling in for the winter, and Luke’s become accustomed to the routine. He’s come to like observing the soft pre-dawn bustle of NiJedha’s streets, with the vendors setting up their stalls.</p>
<p>Luke and the other novices return to the Temple after school, some afternoons.</p>
<p>Chirrut teaches him to meditate and Lian corrects his stance in staff-fighting and Asu-Di who runs the archives loads Luke and his fellow novices all down with reading, so they will know their forerunners, so they will know whose footsteps they follow in.</p>
<p>And slowly, in bits and pieces, Chirrut teaches Luke things he never realized were possible — he can move things with his mind, feel the outline not just of the amorphous clouds of people’s feelings, but their thoughts as well.</p>
<p>“A gift, and a responsibility,” Chirrut tells him, over and over.</p>
<p>None of it’s easy, but none of it’s meant to be. Just like with dawn prayers.</p>
<p>After dawn prayers, Luke walks to school with Devi, another novice who’s in the year above Luke at school. They don’t see each other much at school, but in the mornings they walk together at an easy pace. Often they don’t say anything — ordinarily Luke would like to talk, maybe ask Devi about the drawings she always seems to be doing, or about how confusing Teacher Riya’s sermons are, even when Lian talks to him about them — but after dawn prayers, Luke likes to cup the soft silence he feels inside, hold onto it for a little longer. He thinks Devi feels the same. It’s nice, walking together, nodding and waving and smiling at each other at school later. Like sharing the most important of secrets.</p>
<hr/>
<p>It is winter and Bodhi has just turned eighteen. He knows what he wants to do, now. And he is terrified, because he has put words to the longing, but all the longing in the galaxy will only break his heart, if he can’t get his parents’ blessing.</p>
<p>So far the conversation isn’t going well. Amma doesn’t want him even to apply to the Fleet Academy.</p>
<p>“It’s too dangerous,” she says, washing dishes and not looking at him.</p>
<p>“It’s not like when I was a kid,” Bodhi says. “The Commonwealth’s not some military alliance, it’s a real government, now. And we’re not at war with the Empire!”</p>
<p>Amma turns around, hands on her hips. “Do you think I am stupid?” she asks.</p>
<p>“Amma,” Bodhi mumbles, shocked. “I would never say that.”</p>
<p>“That Fleet isn’t just a defense,” she says. “You think those new planets joined the Commonwealth out of nowhere? You think they had no help at all getting out of the Empire?”</p>
<p>“No,” Bodhi admits. “But I don’t want to go because I want to fight! I just . . . I think flying’s what I’m supposed to do. I’m good at it. And I can help people, with the Fleet.” He swallows, against the churning anxiety. He doesn’t like to argue with his mother. “You, you always say we have to find what it is the Force is willing us to do, and that’s what I feel like, about flying. And I want it to matter.”</p>
<p>Amma closes her eyes, wipes her hands against a dish towel, and then tells Bodhi. “You will need to talk to your father, first.”</p>
<p>“But you — you’ll give your blessing?” Bodhi asks.</p>
<p>“Talk to your father,” she sighs. “If this is what you are meant to do, the Force will find some way.”</p>
<p>Speaking with his father feels weighted, like Bodhi has forgotten all of his carefully prepared arguments. His father is such a gentle, serious man, surrounded by his poetry and histories, his desk stacked with students’ assignments awaiting grading. After all the times the state of Jedha has broken his father’s heart, Bodhi does not want to do the same.</p>
<p>“You are serious about this,” Abbu says.</p>
<p>“Yes,” Bodhi replies. “I know you and Amma don’t like the idea, but I’m good at flying! And I could do some good.”</p>
<p>“Arms are not instruments of peace, beta,” Abbu says, “whether they are a blaster or a ship with cannons. How will you handle that?” He shakes his head.</p>
<p>“Abbu,” Bodhi says, feeling a bewildering urge to cry, “there were corpses in the street. Here. I saw them, too. When I was a child! They killed us like we were nothing. They mocked our faith, and they stole our people. The Commonwealth Fleet's not gonna <em>scar </em>me. The Empire already did that."</p>
<p>Abbu flinches and Bodhi feels a clutching pain in his chest.</p>
<p>"The Commonwealth helped us rebuild," Bodhi says, quieter, talking through the tightness. "I just want to do that for someone else, now. I’m a good pilot.”</p>
<p>Abbu leans in across the desk and looks at Bodhi. He sighs, softly. “My youngest,” he murmurs. “I hoped to have you all home, now that we are safe.”</p>
<p>Bodhi swallows.</p>
<p>But then Abbu smiles, just slightly. “You always wanted those astrographic map displays, to project on your ceiling, when you were small. Do you remember?”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Bodhi agrees, smiling back.</p>
<p>“I should have known then,” Abbu says quietly. He sighs, heavily. “You have thought about this, I see it. If this is the will of the Force, who am I to contradict that? If you wish to apply, you have my blessing.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>Winter is the hardest part of living on Jedha. Spring is tentative and hopeful, filled with the slowly warming winds and first harvest and Luke’s birthday. Summer brings shimmering heat that almost feels like Tatooine’s desert back home, the kind of heat Luke still recognizes in his bones, and the monsoon takes his breath away. But the Jedhan winter is something different. Winter is Jedha’s natural state, what it comes back to, and even though this is the fourth winter Luke’s weathered (and it feels longer, it should be longer; the gap from nine to almost thirteen is like Beggar’s Canyon back home — narrow, maybe, but so deep), it’s hard.</p>
<p>The stones of the Temple’s courtyard and sanctum are shockingly cold beneath Luke’s bare feet and the walk from the Temple to school is filled with people’s misty breathes lingering in the air.</p>
<p>In a lot of the teachings Luke and the other novices are given to read and debate and mull over, coolness is equated with calm, with placidity.</p>
<p>Winter doesn’t feel like that to Luke. It makes him more impatient. To get inside, away from the cold and the wind, to be somewhere he can cup his hands around a warm clay cup of chai or hot chocolate.</p>
<p>Luke’s temper has been fraying from the onslaught of winter, and that’s the only excuse he has for how he reacts. (Not good enough.)</p>
<p>It’s just after school and Luke’s walking home with Shabana, crowds of other students pouring out of the school gates.</p>
<p>The holonews ticker outside the local news bureau near their school flashes something about the Empire’s Outer Rim campaign, so Luke stops in his tracks — everyone on Jedha follows the news avidly. Watching the Empire fail to tame itself is a bitter kind of satisfaction, something people can bite down on. Luke <em>feels </em>it in people’s hard expressions when they stop in front of the news.</p>
<p><em>203rd Battalion Re-Deployed to Hutt Space as Clashes Continue - Riots on Tatooine Contradict Imperial Proclamation of Pacification</em> goes the crawl. Luke shivers. Shabana squeezes his forearm, over his coat.</p>
<p>“That war’s never gonna be over,” mutters Harun, from another cluster of students nearby. Harun’s in their mechanics class.</p>
<p>Luke catches his eye for a second, hoping somehow that whatever Harun says next will make up for the wound. He likes Harun, is the thing — he’s quiet and clever, tall with dark hair and green eyes; <em>handsome</em>, Luke’s brain whispers, even though that’s a word for holofilm stars and stories. He wants Harun to look at him and say of course the Freehold is fine, will be fine. But Harun’s eyebrows flicker together for a moment and then he drops his gaze to the ground. Harun, like most people everywhere, doesn’t even know the Freehold exists.</p>
<p>“Serves the Imps right,” hisses Harun’s friend Tovin, his eyes shuttered. “The Outer Rim and they deserve each other. Bunch of monsters and crime lords, the lot of them.”</p>
<p>(His father was killed in the street by Storm Troopers, when Tovin was five. Luke will remember that, later.)</p>
<p>Tatooine is where Luke’s grandmother is buried, where Great-Aunt Ozmay and the Darklighters and everyone in the Freehold still live, and the idea of anyone tossing them in the same category as Jabba offends every nerve in Luke’s body. His blood flashes and he moves before Shabana can stop him.</p>
<p>“You don’t know anything about the Outer Rim!” Luke says, pushing back his hood and stepping up into Tovin’s space, shoving him with both hands so Tovin stumbles.</p>
<p>Tovin knocks back into Harun. As he rights himself, his mouth curls into a snarl. His anger feels like sparks off a piece of malfunctioning tech.</p>
<p>“You wanna <em>fight me</em>?” Tovin asks, incredulous. “Over a bunch of Imps at war with some other scum?”</p>
<p>“That’s hundreds of star systems!” Luke shouts. “With people! That everyone turned their backs on.”</p>
<p>Tovin straightens up, cocking his head sideways, rolling his jaw. Luke could have him down in four moves, tops, no matter that Tovin’s almost a head taller than him. Luke’s been trained and Tovin’s too proud.</p>
<p>“Luke, stop it,” Shabana says, curling her hand around the back of his coat. Her worry is jittery like beating wings.</p>
<p>“What do you know about people turning their backs, off-worlder?” Tovin asks, spitting the last word, curling his hands into fists.</p>
<p>“C’mon, Tovin,” Harun says, grabbing Tovin’s elbow, managing to drag him back a little bit. “You don’t want to do this. He doesn’t mean it like that!”</p>
<p>Tovin stares down at Luke, from his extra height.</p>
<p>That’s when someone breaks through the crowd around them, stopping right behind Luke and Shabana, close enough that Luke hears their breathlessness.</p>
<p>“Hey, hey,” that’s Bodhi’s voice in his ear, Bodhi’s hand on his left shoulder, tugging him back. “I think that’s enough, huh? We’re going home.”</p>
<p>Luke takes a step back and Tovin’s shoulders drop. Luke turns, into Shabana’s rush of relief and Bodhi’s concern, lets them walk on either side of him, all the way home.</p>
<p>The guilt comes, then. Bad enough that he does dawn prayers alone in his room the next day, rather than risk spilling it out all over the Temple courtyard before he even has a chance to make things right.</p>
<p>Luke apologizes in the schoolyard before classes. “Sorry. About yesterday. It was dumb. I wasn’t actually angry at you.”</p>
<p>Tovin shrugs one shoulder and mutters, “Yeah, same. I’m sorry, too.” He pauses. “I wouldn’t’ve hit you. Not really. I wouldn’t do that to a Guardian novice.”</p>
<p>“I think it probably would’ve been fair if you had,” Luke says, offering a tentative smile. “I did shove you.”</p>
<p>Tovin gives back a brief flicker of a smile himself. “Yeah. Well,” he says. “Peace, brother?” He holds his right hand up in front of his face.</p>
<p>“Peace,” Luke agrees, bringing up his hand and bowing his head, as Tovin does the same.</p>
<hr/>
<p>It’s spring, but the weather hasn’t yet decided if it’s ready to be warm. Bodhi feels itchy with anxiety — the Fleet Academy’s offered him a spot, but now he’s got his final school-leaving exams to contend with, a gauntlet between him and the cadet uniform to come. For his class, school is over, except for reviews, and Bodhi’s hunched over at his desk, trying to carve the Commonwealth laws on hyperspace lanes into his brain.</p>
<p>But in the background, above the normal bustle of the street beyond, there’s a little noise, something hitting the window behind him.</p>
<p>Bodhi sighs, sits up, and goes to open his window. It’s still too cold for this, he thinks.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, Luke’s half-hanging out his window across the alley, definitely the source of the pebbles. The shaved head and fading winter paleness combined make him look vaguely ill, though he’s waving cheerfully.</p>
<p>“Your aim’s getting better,” Bodhi says dryly.</p>
<p>Luke beams, though Bodhi didn’t exactly mean it as a compliment. “Thanks,” he says. “Hey, so I could <em>feel </em>you being stressed from all the way over here.”</p>
<p>“And so you thought you would interrupt me?” Bodhi sighs. “It’s exam time, Luke. I have to <em>study</em>. Final year scores matter.” If he can just do well enough in astrography and navigation, then it’ll be done, set in stone — he’ll be getting on that Commonwealth transport this summer. “And you’re in secondary school now, you need to be studying, too. The Guardians kick people out for not doing well enough.”</p>
<p>“I know that,” Luke says, frowning and sounding affronted. “But I can’t concentrate when you’re this black cloud of worry right over there, and I bet you can’t either. So I was gonna ask if you wanted hot chocolate?” he trails off huffily.</p>
<p>Bodhi sighs. He’s arguing with a thirteen-year old, who just wants to cheer him up and probably have an excuse to drink hot chocolate. “Actually, that sounds nice. Thanks.”</p>
<p>Luke’s habitual sunniness returns instantly. Bodhi wonders, not for the first time, how a kid with so many obvious emotions running straight across his face decides he wants to be a stoic Guardian one day.</p>
<p>“Cool! I can make some,” Luke says, pulling back slightly from his precarious lean out the window.</p>
<p>Bodhi squints down at the alley between them. “You’re not going to try to float it over here, are you?” he asks. He can already imagine the broken crockery and the disapproval from his mother.</p>
<p>There are no more Inquisitors here and Luke’s joyful pride in his telekinesis is sweet enough to more than balance the strangeness. But everyone agrees he shouldn’t be practicing where people can see him, not outside the Temple at least.</p>
<p>Thankfully, Luke shakes his head. “You could come over here?” he offers.</p>
<p>Bodhi looks back at his desk, but feeling the cramp in his shoulders, says, “Yeah, sure.”</p>
<p>Owen and Beru must be out checking on the vaporators on the rooftop, because when Bodhi lets himself in, Luke’s alone in the kitchen, mixing up mugs.</p>
<p>“Chirrut always says tea’s more calming, but we all drink so much tea here already,” Luke says, with a faint complaint in his voice, as he hands Bodhi one of the mugs and sitting down at the kitchen table.</p>
<p>“Hot chocolate’s good,” Bodhi agrees, sitting across from Luke, cupping the warm mug in his hands and breathing in.</p>
<p>It’s usually a drink Bodhi reserves for winter, but a little comfort isn’t amiss right now. The richness and warmth as it makes its way down is soothing.</p>
<p>“I guess you’ll see a lot of places, with the Fleet,” Luke suddenly offers, breaking the easy quiet between them. He sounds almost wistful, a strange expression on the face of a kid who’s always throwing himself into things.</p>
<p>“I hope so,” Bodhi smiles. “You know, you’ve seen more planets than I have, so far.”</p>
<p>Luke laughs at that, expression clearing. “A lotta spaceports, anyway.” He leans in, putting his elbows on the table and resting his chin on one hand. “You think you’ll see snow?”</p>
<p>Bodhi grins. He’s thought about that, too. “Yeah! It snows on Chandrila, at least where the Academy is.” He likes the idea of a different kind of winter, somewhere that the near-impossible on Jedha is simply expected.</p>
<p>“Will you send pictures?” Luke asks.</p>
<p>“So many,” Bodhi promises.</p>
<hr/>
<p>It’s the height of the heat; summer term classes have begun to drag. Everyone shifts impatiently at their desks, and every rumble from the sky grabs people’s hopeful attention (today, today, the rains will come).</p>
<p>Bodhi’s scheduled to leave in two weeks, take one of the Commonwealth transports Core-ward to Chandrila. Sometimes Luke sees him wandering around, hands stuck in his pockets, like he’s committing the city to memory. Luke’s stomach drops a little when that happens, not wanting the reminder that soon Bodhi won’t be at his window just across from Luke’s. He tries to ignore that, though.</p>
<p>Luke’s coming up the stairs behind their houses in the early evening, when he spots Bodhi perched on his family’s courtyard wall, facing down into the little plaza Luke’s coming from. His profile’s backlit, striking, like a picture from the poetry magazine Divya writes for sometimes.</p>
<p>“Hey,” Bodhi gestures, “come up. There’s wind here.”</p>
<p>Luke ought to go in, do the maintenance on the digger droids for the greenhouse, but it’s not much of a choice, really. He hefts himself up onto one of still empty rainwater collection barrels, and then onto the wall. He shifts himself sideways until he’s side by side with Bodhi. There is a breeze, sort of. It’s nice.</p>
<p>“So. You’re really going,” Luke says, kicking his legs against the wall.</p>
<p>“I really am,” Bodhi agrees. He’s excited. There’s a sort of buoyancy Luke can taste around him.</p>
<p>Luke scratches at some flaking plaster and tries not to be jealous. Bodhi’s a good pilot, and maybe this is what the Force wants for him. Luke should focus on that, but the mind is slippery, like the Teachers at the Temple always say, and mostly he’s thinking about how Bodhi’s going to be gone.</p>
<p>“Hey, you’re not bad on the arcade flying sims,” Bodhi says, elbowing him, but too gently, like he thinks Luke might fall off their perch.</p>
<p>Luke probably has better balance than Bodhi does, he thinks, knowing he’s being petulant and unable to stop himself.</p>
<p>“Maybe when you’re done with school, you could come fly with us, too,” Bodhi continues.</p>
<p>Luke shrugs, an effort at nonchalance. He’s curious about space and part of him would like to see it again, one day, but he can’t ever imagine leaving Jedha and the Temple when they’re so engrained.</p>
<p>“I don’t think you can be a member of any armed forces, if you’re a Guardian,” he says, instead, because he’s pretty sure that true and if it isn’t, it’s a question he should ask Baze, because if any of the Guardians was secretly a soldier once, it’s definitely Baze.</p>
<p>“Still pretty sure about that, huh?” Bodhi asks. “All the votive duties haven’t put you off?”</p>
<p>Luke shakes his head. He likes walking through the crowds on festival days, carrying the incense that blurs into the air, or watching over the younger kids as Asu-Di the archivist unspools stories for them. He never tires of hearing about Ananda’s journey across Jedha to share his teachings, or about the Wandering Ones, who carried the Path’s wisdom across the galaxy. People’s emotions can knock against one another, to the point that Luke gets headaches sometimes. But at the Temple, on the best days, everyone’s feelings are harmonized. Luke imagines it's like what floating in a river might feel like.</p>
<p>“I like being at the Temple,” he says. “I don’t mind.”</p>
<p>“Make sure to do some normal teenage stuff, too, though,” Bodhi says. When Luke turns to look at him, Bodhi’s studying him, a little wrinkle between his eyebrows.</p>
<p>“Like get the most expensive speeding ticket probably anyone in the whole neighborhood’s ever gotten?” Luke asks, grinning, because just a moment ago Bodhi had been excited and Luke would like to bring that back.</p>
<p>“Yeah, yeah, very funny,” Bodhi says, pushing Luke’s head sideways, but gently. “You wish you could pull off something like that.”</p>
<p>“I totally could,” Luke protests, because it’s true.</p>
<p>“Do not go and become a delinquent and then say I inspired you,” Bodhi says, his eyes crinkling up at the corners in his amusement.</p>
<p>Luke smiles and kicks his feet again. “We’ll see,” he says.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chandrila is astonishingly different from Jedha. Its beauty is old too, but it is a beauty of cut marble and stark features. Instead of dusty reds and desert browns, Chandrila favors white and silver. Even in his ubiquitous Fleet cadet uniform, Bodhi still sometimes feels powerfully out of place at unexpected moments. There are decorative fountains that pour water all day in Hanna City’s pedestrian plazas. The first time he’d seen one, he couldn’t help but stop and stare. Even now, after he’s been here for months, Bodhi still has the passing urge to just climb in the fountain he passes each morning, crossing the lawn between the barracks and the teaching buildings.</p>
<p>For all its beauty, the Fleet Academy is still a bit haphazard, not unlike the Commonwealth. They’re up against an established Imperial system of regional academies that feed students into starfighter training and other essential postings. The Commonwealth has just this: the Fleet Academy, a set of buildings and training fields hastily gifted to the Commonwealth by the Chandrilian Planetary Defense, and a bundle of eager young cadets who will be cycled out to service after two years of training.</p>
<p>Everything feels incredibly important and just a tad ridiculous at the same time. Bodhi and all the cadets around him are told constantly that they’re the future of the Commonwealth, its shield arm and its connective nerves. It’s a joke Bodhi and his friends toss around mockingly in hangar bays and bars; it’s a piece of half-propaganda, half-truth that raises their chins and straightens their shoulders at assembly.</p>
<p>As the months race away, Bodhi’s fellow cadets become his friends, and some of the instructors become — well, not friends, but people he genuinely likes. Lieutenant Kari, a Togruta officer who teaches practicals on evasive tactics when she’s not flying Chief Minister Organa or the other lights of the Commonwealth, might be Bodhi’s favorite. She’s nothing like him, fond of saying stuff like, “The thing you’ll learn about the Imps, if you ever end up face to face with them, is that they all hate each other.” Bodhi can't imagine walking around with such boldness but he likes to think he'll earn the same kind of certainty in himself.</p>
<p>On the lawns and in classrooms, sprawled out in the common rooms, everyone debates the relative merits of different starfighter ships, or dreams of how cool it would be to work their way up the line of a Mon Calamari capital ship, or speculates about how someone really earns a test pilot slot. Bodhi usually offers that he likes the litheness of X-Wings, though truthfully he’s not sure he’d like their closed-in cockpits as much if he needed to be sealed into one, day after day.</p>
<p>During the grueling week of end-of-year exams, practical and written, Bodhi returns to saying his prayers, with particular care and fervency. He hopes the Force really is guiding him.</p>
<p>After one exam, he lands a freighter and comes out onto the bay to find one of the upper level instructors there, tapping a stylus against their cheek.</p>
<p>"You're very good in atmo," notes the Commander, with a little nod to themself.</p>
<p>Bodhi smiles at them, tentative, wondering if that means he's not good in space. He never had much of a chance to fly in space before the Academy, though he’s hardly alone in that among the cadets.</p>
<p>“Thank you, sir,” Bodhi says anyway, because he knows by now that a compliment from an instructor is never a small thing.</p>
<p>Three days later, just before they're dismissed from the Academy for off-planet inter-term practicals, assignments go out to the first-years. Crowded into a friend’s room, Bodhi opens his message, his heart pounding. <em>Transport</em> reads the heading on his assignment. Bodhi slides off the bunk he’s sitting on, feeling a new and unexpected reality pressing down on his shoulders.</p>
<p>That night, he concludes, it’s <em>strange</em>, more than anything. He’s good with freighters, that’s true enough. But other than that, he just doesn’t know why. Maybe he’s too jumpy for a starfighter. Maybe somewhere buried in his psych profile is something that indicates he’d go loopy on a capital ship, breathing recycled air for months.</p>
<p>The next afternoon, Lieutenant Kari suddenly appears and sits down across from him in the mess. She grins and taps her fingers against the table. “Afternoon, Cadet.”</p>
<p>“Sir,” Bodhi says, caught off guard. He hadn’t even known she was around.</p>
<p>“So I hear you'll be joining the cohort next term,” she says.</p>
<p>“Um, yeah," Bodhi says, quietly.</p>
<p>Kari leans in, narrowing her black eyes, her molten red head tails shifting over her shoulders. "I'm sensing some apprehension there, Cadet," she says.</p>
<p>Bodhi can feel his cheeks heat up. "No, sir," he protests immediately.</p>
<p>“Walk with me, Rook,” Kari says, standing up in one fluid motion and beckoning him to follow.</p>
<p>Bodhi trashes the remains of his meal and hastens to follow.</p>
<p>Kari leads them across the lawn to a secluded garden, surrounded by a tall, carefully trimmed hedge, then sprawls out on a bench. “Sit,” she gestures.</p>
<p>When Bodhi does, she looks around furtively, before pulling a shiny, dented cigarette case out of a jacket pocket and taking out one of those hand-rolled cigarettes popular on Chandrila.</p>
<p>“Want one?” she asks, holding out the case to Bodhi.</p>
<p>He shakes his head. The casual drinking and the sabacc games and the kissing people he definitely doesn’t know well enough to even contemplate courting are all things he can excuse himself for, but it turns out that smoking is where Bodhi draws the line on behaviors the Path does not condone. It’s an arbitrary line, really, but somehow all the more important for that.</p>
<p>“You don’t mind if I do, though?” Kari asks, sticking one in her mouth. “They’re such sticklers about not smoking on Academy grounds, it makes me think about it more.”</p>
<p>“Go ahead,” Bodhi says, smiling a little, because he definitely knows that feeling, even if he’s never had it about cigarettes.</p>
<p>“So. You’re disappointed, getting sorted into transport, is it?” Kari asks.</p>
<p>“No,” Bodhi protests again, a little more convinced of his answer this time.</p>
<p>“It’s alright,” Kari says. “It’s a common reaction, actually. It doesn't sound as glamorous, but they're careful, picking transport pilots," she says. "Going over the border," she blows out smoke. "It's a mindfuck. Every time. Starfighters stay on the line, and they get the pirates, and the opportunists, yeah. The Imperial offshoots sometimes, but usually the Empire takes care of that themselves. I swear Vader hates them more than he hates us."</p>
<p>"I know what the Empire's like," Bodhi interrupts. "I'm from Jedha!" Hosnia, Alderaan, Chandrila, even blockaded Mon Cala, they were never formally, actively occupied. The systems that make up the strong spine of the Commonwealth could only become that because they never lost as much as the others.</p>
<p>Kari’s face goes serious, sympathetic, her face markings drawing back with her cheeks. "What they did on Jedha was an atrocity," she says, simple. Precise. Then she sighs. "But what the Empire's like, in its own borders? These days, they're confused. <em>Confusing.</em>"</p>
<p>She falls silent for a moment, stubs out her cigarette and says, "That's the point I'm making. They sorted you over to us because of your scores, yeah. But they must see something else, too. Because we're the ones who deal with the Empire up close. It's not for everyone."</p>
<p>Bodhi waits for some kind of clarification.</p>
<p>"Transport means they trust you with other people's lives. And it means they think you can keep secrets."</p>
<p>“Secrets,” Bodhi repeats slowly.</p>
<p>Kari’s grin blooms incrementally, flashing her teeth. “Oh, yes. You’ll be up to your ears in secrets this time two years from now, I can promise you that.”</p>
<p>Bodhi settles further down on the bench, crossing his arms and taking a deep breath in. “Alright,” he says.</p>
<hr/>
<p>When Luke is fourteen, a royal delegation from Alderaan comes to Jedha. In the last few years, folks of all kinds from the other Commonwealth systems have started trickling back to visit the Temple. And of course, plenty of off-worlders live in the city. But it’s the first time in a generation, the first time since the end of the Republic, that the Guardians have received an Alderaanian queen.</p>
<p>All beings are equal before the Force, sentient or not, powerful or oppressed, of course. But even so, the Temple’s courtyard is still buzzing with talk about the Alderaanian delegation. Everyone is curious. The woman who leads the Jewel of the Core, the wife of the Commonwealth’s current Chief Minister — what will she be like?</p>
<p>She was a teacher, Luke’s read, and for some reason that sticks with him. In the holofilms, the ancient Jedhan princesses and queens seem to spend most of their days tending their hardy desert gardens, or reciting poetry to birds and adventurous nobles who are conveniently passing under their balconies, or slaying monsters with shining swords. This queen seems a calmer type.</p>
<p>And yet the moment he spots her entering the Temple, flanked on either side by Alderaanian ministers, he shivers with a deep sense of strangeness. He and the other younger novices are watching from one of the outer wall paths, so the Queen is only a small figure in the main courtyard. But somehow it’s enough for his Force sense to reverberate with emotion.</p>
<p>Luke doesn’t know her at all and yet some unknown sort of affection rises up, as if she’s Aunt Beru and it’s the end of a long day and all he wants is a hug.</p>
<p>“Cold?” Devi asks, turning to him, frowning at him slightly.</p>
<p>“No, I’m alright,” Luke mumbles, rubbing at his arms nevertheless, his gaze still drawn to the Alderaanian queen. She and her delegation go through the usual greetings with the various Guardian leaders, then head into the main sanctum.</p>
<p>Lian comes up to herd them all down into the courtyard, so they’re ready to be presented when the Queen comes out. Closer, she’s still small, with keen eyes and an elaborate crown of dark hair piled atop her head.</p>
<p>“Her highness would like to meet some of our novices,” Chirrut says, beckoning Luke and Devi and the others around them forward.</p>
<p>The Queen speaks to them one by one, looking them each in the eye, inquiring about them like she wants to commit their faces to memory.</p>
<p>When Luke shares his name, a strange sadness wafts off her, a kind of wistfulness that tastes like salt water. But she only says, “A lovely name. How old are you, Luke?”</p>
<p>“Fourteen,” Luke says. He wants to comfort her, but how does anyone comfort a queen?</p>
<p>Queen Breha smiles then, small and warm, and says, “My daughter is fourteen. I’m sure she’d love to join your staff fighting lessons.”</p>
<p>“Then I hope she can come with you, the next time you visit,” Luke offers.</p>
<p>Queen Breha squeezes his hand and says, “As do I.” There’s a fervancy behind her words that borders on hollow longing. The depth of it startles Luke. She must miss her daughter.</p>
<p>“Did you see her?” Shabana asks, bounding up to him in the school yard the next morning, slapping her hands down on his shoulders and staring him in the eye.</p>
<p>“The Queen?” Luke asks.</p>
<p>Shabana rolls her eyes. “No, I’m asking if you saw my mum at communal prayer.”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Luke says. “I met her.”</p>
<p>“So?” Shabana asks.</p>
<p>“She’s very elegant,” Luke says. He’s not sure how to describe her. Elegant is accurate, but not enough.</p>
<p>“And?” Shabana asks, quietly, her hands slipping down to his upper arms and squeezing.</p>
<p>Luke shakes his head — he still doesn’t have a grasp on it and that bothers him. “She . . . reminds me of someone.”</p>
<p>Shabana’s forehead wrinkles, a line appearing between her eyebrows — she looks a lot like Asha when she’s concerned. “Who?” she asks softly.</p>
<p><em>My mother</em>, Luke wants to say. He shakes his head to dispel the absolute strangeness of the thought, which feels like it doesn’t quite belong to him. He knows only a handful of things about his mother: Her name was Padmé, she had beautiful brown hair, she was gracious, and then she was dead.</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” he says instead.</p>
<p>Shabana reaches out for his hand and squeezes. “Maybe you’ll figure out,” she tells him, then leads him into the school building for class.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Bodhi’s twenty years old, only half a year out of the Fleet Academy, and Kari’s words have already come true in ways Bodhi never expected. He’s got diplomatic identification scan docs that allow him over the border into Imperial space, and he’s visited (or at least landed in hangar bays of) two-thirds of the star systems in the Commonwealth already. He’s taken Commonwealth negotiation aides all the way to the Senate on Imperial Center. He’s even ferried Chief Minister Organa's daughter (one among a handful of slightly too rambunctious young diplomats) back and forth between planets. Bodhi knows the landing procedures on Mon Cala and Hosnian Prime well enough now that he doesn’t actually have to read up and remind himself beforehand, though he prefers to, still.</p>
<p>It’s a different life than he imagined, staring out his window on Jedha. A different life than he fantasized about in the back of his head as he crammed for exams during his early days at the Fleet Academy. But just like Kari predicted, it’s a life far stranger and more interesting than he would ever have realized.</p>
<p>Bodhi’s twenty years old when the Fleet introduces him to Andor, Erso, and Kaytoo-Esso.</p>
<p>The first sign that something out of the ordinary is about to happen is that Bodhi gets called into Commander Walun’s office. She’s his commanding officer’s commanding officer and while it’s hardly as if Bodhi never sees her, he’s not exactly important enough to warrant much one-on-one time with her either.</p>
<p>Except when he shows up to her office, she isn’t actually alone. There’s a tall, thin human man with dark, floppy hair leaned up against the wall behind him. Bodhi has almost nothing to base this on, but he’s got a feeling that lurking is second nature to the guy. He’s wearing a beat-up jacket that looks out of place among the Fleet’s neat uniforms, but it’s got a Security Services rank insignia on it.</p>
<p>“Ensign Rook,” Commander Walun says with a nod. “Thank you for joining us. This is Captain Cassian Andor of Commonwealth Intelligence and Special Operations.”</p>
<p>Captain Andor nods, keeps his arms folded. Friendly, then, Bodhi thinks to himself dryly. But then, most of the Intel officers Bodhi’s met tend towards a certain blank-faced dourness, though he doesn’t like to think about why.</p>
<p>Walun folds her lips into a thin, set expression. “Captain Andor needs a pilot for an extraction mission. And while ordinarily we would happily leave this to the SpecOps pilots, as it happens, Captain Andor has an active diplomatic alias working in the Zhadalene system in the Outer Rim Territories. He’s a immigration official, is it?” Walun asks dryly.</p>
<p>“Yes,” is the only thing Andor offers up.</p>
<p>“I, uh, didn’t even know we had an embassy there,” Bodhi admits.</p>
<p>“We keep an eye on their resistance efforts,” Andor says.</p>
<p>Bodhi can never tell his mother, but Amma wasn’t wrong, of course. The way new star systems exit the Empire and enter the Commonwealth usually isn’t some entirely self-supported effort. The Commonwealth is careful, of course, neutral on its face, maintaining whatever level of diplomatic channels are necessary with the Empire. But the dream in the Commonwealth’s hidden heart is still of a galaxy freed and self-governing, from the Core to the Outer Rim.</p>
<p>“Given the situation, Intel needs a diplomatic transport pilot, someone quick on their feet, but of course not so high ranking that it would be strange to be assigned an apparently low level task,” Walun continues. “Lieutenant Kari had good things to say about you.”</p>
<p>Bodhi manages not to grin, since that seems inappropriate, but says, “Thank you, sir. I’m glad to hear that.”</p>
<p>Andor pushes himself off the wall and steps closer, straightening his shoulders.</p>
<p>“The embassy is on Zhadalene I, but our agent is on Zhadalene III,” Andor explains. “Getting into and out of the system will be no problem, but picking her up will be tricky. We can’t be seen coming or going from Zhadalene III because of the travel restrictions.”</p>
<p>Bodhi swallows.</p>
<p>“You can turn down this assignment,” Walun says, leaning in. “You’re under no obligations.”</p>
<p>Bodhi glances back up at Andor. There’s something mournful about the set of his face, which makes Bodhi want to help him. Of course, Bodhi hardly knows him well enough to know if the man’s really mournful himself, and if so how anyone could help with that. But Bodhi’s a good pilot. He can get the Intel agent out. He thinks.</p>
<p>“I’ll do it,” Bodhi says, wishing his voice sounded steadier.</p>
<p>What Andor failed to mention in that initial meeting is that his partner is a reprogrammed Imperial droid.</p>
<p>“Ooo-kay,” Bodhi murmurs, looking up and up until he reaches Kaytoo-Esso’s face.</p>
<p>“Don’t worry, I won’t shoot you,” the droid says. Then it tilts its head and amends, “Unless Cassian tells me to.”</p>
<p>Bodhi backs up a step.</p>
<p>Andor comes up then, pats Kaytoo-Esso on the arm, and says, “Don’t scare the pilot. He’s our ticket back out of hostile territory.”</p>
<p>“Maybe,” is Kaytoo-Esso’s response.</p>
<p>Bodhi sets his teeth against each other and follows them up the ramp onto his ship. Thankfully, getting into the pilot’s seat of Monsoon Echo is all he needs for the tension in his shoulders to roll off. Bodhi pulls on his headset, takes a deep breath in, and starts take-off procedures.</p>
<p>Just as promised, getting across the border is simple, a procedure Bodhi’s done enough times that his worse-than-usual anxiety about it doesn’t seem to spark any unwanted interest from the Imperial border checkpoint.</p>
<p>Even getting from Zhadalene I to the rendezvous spot on Zhadalene III isn’t that bad. It takes some precise timing and control, keeping out of the detection range of the Imperial patrols — they must be pretty paranoid about people finding out the inhabitants of the moon aren’t thrilled to be under Imperial control — but it’s more than doable. Waiting for Andor and Kaytoo to return with the Intel agent is more nerve wracking than the trip though, because it leaves Bodhi too much time to think, sitting alone in the ship. They’re taking longer than they should. It’s throwing off their schedule, Bodhi thinks, anxiously tapping a foot.</p>
<p>But then, finally, Andor and Kaytoo tumble on board with a small human woman with pale, striking blue eyes, who introduces herself with a sharp nod as, “Jyn Erso. Thanks for the pick up.”</p>
<p>Bodhi nods and gets them off the ground. Only they’ve missed their planned window. Bodhi licks his lip and says, “We’re gonna, uh, improvise here a little bit. We need to,” Bodhi swallows, “tweak our exit route, since the patrols are definitely further along their routes than we planned.”</p>
<p>"You're nervous," Andor observes, from over his shoulder.</p>
<p>"Nervous is bad," says the droid. Bodhi hadn't even known there were voice options that allowed droids to sound as judgemental as that. "Especially when you're the one in charge of the ship not crashing."</p>
<p>"That's, uh," Bodhi licks his lips, "that's not really helping right now."</p>
<p>"Kay," Erso says, in a warning tone.</p>
<p>"Okay," Bodhi mutters, "okay. Just gonna . . . make it up as I go along. Figure out a new path, based on our projections.”</p>
<p>"Not to disturb you, but that Imperial patrol over there <em>is</em> getting closer," Kaytoo says. “They will find it rather suspicious that our diplomatic vessel is here.”</p>
<p>Bodhi blocks him out, closes his eyes. Takes a breath in, a breath out, imagines he's kneeling in the courtyard of the Temple, cool stone beneath him, the palpable aura of pilgrims' faith flavoring the air.</p>
<p>He opens his eyes. "All of you sit down and buckle in," he says. "Now."</p>
<p>When they get back into Commonwealth space, Bodhi blows out a heavy breath and slumps in his seat.</p>
<p>“Nice flying,” says Erso, clapping him on the shoulder.</p>
<p>From behind her, Andor smiles, just slightly. That feels like a victory to Bodhi. “We owe you a drink,” Andor says.</p>
<p>“That went better than I predicted,” Kaytoo even adds.</p>
<p>A couple weeks later, he gets another SpecOps assignment.</p>
<p>“Andor, Erso, and their angry droid again, I’m afraid,” Lieutenant Kari says, with a wry expression. “This is what happens when you do your job too well. I’ll try to swing you something fun next, though.”</p>
<p>Bodhi shrugs and grins. “Trip to Aldera’d be great,” he says. “But you know, honestly? I don’t mind working with them again. I think it’ll be . . . interesting.”</p>
<p>Kari looks at him like he’s just declared his love for dipping cookies in blaster oil, but only replies, “If you say so.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>When school starts up, Luke is all too aware of how different the path of a Guardian is. He's fifteen and this is the first year he won't attend school full time with Shabana and their friends. He still spends his mornings with them, but when they break for lunch, Luke walks to the Temple, and is there until evening.</p>
<p>"They'll tell you a lot, that this is the point where a lot of people change their minds," Devi says, as they wind up their arm wraps before their staff fighting class. “They said that to me all the time, last year.”</p>
<p>“It was only Seeva and Elu who left last year though, wasn’t it?” Luke offers tentatively.</p>
<p>“Sure. We’re already a bit of a self-selecting group, yeah?” Devi says, with a slight smile. “But you’ll start taking on more Temple duties, start prepping for your pilgrimage.” She ties the laces of her boots and finishes, “Start lightbow training. You know who’s going to teach you yet?” she asked.</p>
<p>Luke nods. “It’s Baze.”</p>
<p>Devi looks up and laughs briefly. “You look terrified.”</p>
<p>“Wouldn’t you be?” Luke asks, frowning.</p>
<p>“Oh, definitely,” Devi says easily. “But you and Chirrut are so close. Baze must . . .” her eyes drift sideways before she offers, “like you?”</p>
<p>“I can’t really tell if he likes anyone but Chirrut or just tolerates them,” Luke says, with what he thinks is a perfectly appropriate tone of fearful resignation, but Devi just snorts and shakes her head.</p>
<p>“It’s not nearly as bad as you’re making it sound,” Devi says. “He wouldn’t agree to spend hours teaching you to shoot if he hated you.”</p>
<p>Luke contemplates mentioning that it would also be an excellent opportunity for murder. But as much as that would make Devi laugh and shake her head, of course Luke doesn’t actually think Baze really dislikes him. It’s just that Luke’s also not nearly as confident as Devi is that Baze thinks of him as anything other than mildly irritating.</p>
<p>Their first couple of lessons do nothing to dispel Luke’s misgivings. Baze seems very intent on walking Luke through every single step of assembling and disassembling the lightbow, and having him carry it around from place to place, but nothing else.</p>
<p>When Luke asks Zhi-Alam if xer lessons have involved actually picking up and shooting the lightbow, xe looks at Luke oddly and says, "Yeah," very slowly.</p>
<p>So the next day, Luke asks Baze, “Do you think we could, you know, actually shoot today?”</p>
<p>Baze raises his eyebrows. They’re very intimidating eyebrows.</p>
<p>“You think this is too slow for you?” he asks.</p>
<p>Luke has a feeling that somehow this is a trick question, but still he says, “Yes? I mean, I’m supposed to learn how to actually use it. All I know right now is how to take it apart and put it together and I’d seen that plenty of times before this.”</p>
<p>Baze makes a short snorting noise. “So you could put it together without looking? Without hesitation? When a speeder is charging at you? Or a ship is getting away and you have only one chance?”</p>
<p>“Maybe?” Luke says, very, very slowly. Conceding the point this early would feel entirely too much like immediate defeat.</p>
<p>Baze just looks at him.</p>
<p>“No,” Luke admits.</p>
<p>“You are impatient,” Baze says. “Always thinking about the next thing. If you want speed, you use a blaster.”</p>
<p>Luke sucks a breath in. He knows how to use a blaster, but that’s not because of the Guardians, but his Aunt Beru. It’s almost taboo, the idea of a Guardian using a blaster, though some of them must have during the Struggle. It’s not spoken of, usually — at least not when the novices are around.</p>
<p>“Blasters are quick,” Baze says. “And usually more effective, too, no matter what my Temple siblings say.” Luke’s shock must be obvious on his face, because Baze barks a short laugh. “Effective for what they are meant to do.” He stops there.</p>
<p>Luke’s supposed to think about that, he can tell.</p>
<p>Baze looks at him for a long time and Luke wants to shift under his gaze, can feel himself starting to blush in discomfort.</p>
<p>“A Guardian cannot be hasty. You must be controlled, even in the midst of chaos. And control takes practice and much repetition,” Baze says. “Control is not innate. It is learned.”</p>
<p>“I understand, teacher,” Luke murmurs, looking at Baze’s feet.</p>
<p>Baze snorts, again. “No,” he says. “You think you understand, up here,” he taps the side of his head. “That is only the first step. When you understand in your body, when your muscles know without thinking — that is when you will understand.” He gets up from his cross-legged position. “Now,” he says. “Take out the lightbow and put it together.”</p>
<p>“And then take it apart?” Luke asks, smiling wryly.</p>
<p>Baze nods. “Begin.”</p>
<p>Luke does.</p>
<p>He catches the tram back home later, squishing on, only to find himself unexpectedly face to face with Harun.</p>
<p>“Oh,” Luke says, out loud, because Baze is right, apparently. Luke has no self-control.</p>
<p>“Hey,” Harun says, offering a crooked smile. “Haven’t seen you around much.”</p>
<p>“Hey,” Luke mumbles back. Harun’s only gotten taller and more handsome since they were thirteen, and somewhat less shy, too, which seems unfair. Because Luke feels like in the same time, he’s mostly just gotten better at hitting things and worse at talking to cute boys. “Yeah, you know, more training at the Temple these days.”</p>
<p>“Going well?” Harun asks.</p>
<p>Luke shrugs. There was a point at which he hadn’t gotten tongue-tied when he saw Harun without warning, but they’re past that point and also crammed very close together.</p>
<p>Harun’s eyebrows draw together and he offers much more slowly, “Going . . . badly?”</p>
<p>At that, Luke smiles and shakes his head. “No, not badly. Things have been,” he pauses, worrying his lip between his teeth, looking for the right words.</p>
<p>“Frustrating?” Harun asks.</p>
<p>Luke hums. “Yeah? Sort of? But, um,” Luke pauses, “a good frustrating? I think. If that makes sense.”</p>
<p>“Like . . . fixing an engine?” Harun offers.</p>
<p>“Yeah!” Luke agrees, grinning. That was probably too enthusiastic, but that’s exactly right.</p>
<p>Harun nods. “Cool,” he says.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Luke says, nodding back.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Bodhi returns to Jedha three weeks before the Return. He missed the Air Festival and all the kites this year. Divya had sent dozens of holos, probably with the specific intent of making Bodhi regret his choices.</p>
<p>She hadn’t needed to. Bodhi already missed home.</p>
<p>He loves Chandrila, and Yavin, and Alderaan, and Mon Cala, but none of them are where he was born. None of them coat the soles of his boots with the red-brown dust of Jedha, or have her mesas.</p>
<p>Before taking off from the Fleet base landing bay on Chandrila, Bodhi sends Luke a short holomessage, one that’s become standard, just the the date and time he’ll land on Jedha, just under two standard days from now, and the question, <em>Want to come say hi to Monsoon Echo?</em></p>
<p>Almost before Bodhi’s broke atmo, a message comes back: <em>Yes!! Say which landing bay and I’ll be there</em>.</p>
<p>Bodhi laughs, types out <em>Will do</em>, and then tucks his comm away in his pocket, and prepares for the jump to hyperspace.</p>
<p>Even if every time Bodhi comes home, something has changed in the City or about the City, at least there’s consistency somewhere. Luke still loves ships of every kind with the same enthusiasm and care he’d shown as a little kid toward his models.</p>
<p>In the Fleet, Monsoon Echo’s just a pretty standard small diplomatic passenger freighter, and among Bodhi’s family and old friends, she’s perfectly nice as a symbol of Bodhi’s profession. Jyn and Cassian and Kaytoo have a certain affection for Monsoon Echo, since she’s gotten them through more than a handful of successful undercover missions in the last year.</p>
<p>But Luke’s the only one who displays the level of enthusiasm Bodhi’s ship really deserves. It’s a good way to start his visits home, Luke bounding up the landing ramp and zipping around the ship, spotting new modifications and asking about them, or touching impressive upgrades reverently.</p>
<p>When Bodhi lands at the new Fleet base just beyond the New City gates (still more dirt and dust than buildings or ships), he practically slides his way down the ramp, eager for the taste of Jedha’s air in his lungs. He steps off the ramp and takes a deep breath in, eyes closed.</p>
<p>And then, just as Bodhi opens his eyes, just on time, Luke rounds the corner of the hangar bay. He’s definitely had some sort of growth spurt, because he’s noticeably taller than the last time Bodhi was home. If Luke keeps growing at this rate, he’ll end up taller than Bodhi, which will usher in a lifetime of Luke pointing that out, no doubt.</p>
<p>“Oh!” Luke says, stopping abruptly, eyes wide, some distance away. “Hi! You’re here!”</p>
<p>“Hey!” Bodhi says, grinning. “Yeah, I’m back!”</p>
<p>“Hey,” Luke repeats, standing almost eerily still except for the little wave he gives. Even under the leftovers of his summer tan, he’s pink-cheeked from the wind. “Welcome home.”</p>
<p>“What, no hug?” Bodhi laughs, closing the distance between them. “Teenagers <em>are </em>rude.”</p>
<p>“I’m not <em>rude</em>,” Luke says, a look of utter affront settling onto his face.</p>
<p>But either way, the hug he gives Bodhi in return is tight and unhesitating.</p>
<p>“You wanna come see her upgrades?” Bodhi asks, pulling out of their hug and nodding back at Monsoon Echo.</p>
<p>Luke blinks, a slightly vacant look in his eyes. “Huh?” he asks.</p>
<p>Bodhi frowns, puzzled. They haven’t talked much, in the past couple months, but even still, Luke seems a bit off. To start, he’s definitely whole shades less enthusiastically verbose than usual.</p>
<p>“You okay?” Bodhi asks, narrowing his eyes, wondering what he’s missing.</p>
<p>“What?” Luke says, the pitch of his voice sliding toward shrill. He clears his throat and then follows up quickly, “Yeah, I’m fine!” He looks over at Monsoon Echo and says, “The upgrades! You should show me.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>Luke doesn’t know exactly when he started getting that shivery swoop in his gut over the sight of Bodhi in his Fleet uniform, all sharp lines over slim, wiry strength. But he does know that the whole thing is awful and inconvenient. Luke’s recently developed inability to hold a normal conversation with anyone he finds attractive shouldn’t extend to Bodhi. Not when Luke’s (hopefully) already done the most embarrassing things possible in front of Bodhi.</p>
<p>But the thing is, Bodhi's only home once or twice a standard year. It’s hard to become inured to something without extended exposure. This time, Bodhi’s let his hair grow out a little so it’s not cropped so close to his skull anymore, the way he’s favored since the Academy. Luke imagines the new hair would be soft to the touch.</p>
<p>Standing in the golden harvest sunlight, eyes closed, Bodhi looks and feels delighted, a warm, honeysuckle cloud drifting across Luke’s senses and leaving him flushed and a little disoriented.</p>
<p>When Luke takes too long to recover from the tingling sensation skating across his skin after their hug, Bodhi’s happiness fuzzes with confusion and some concern. Luke’s not even trying and he can tell Bodhi thinks something’s off with him.</p>
<p>At least there’s Bodhi’s ship. Luke doesn’t have to fake turning his attention there, to something where his excitement overrides his awful, awkward crush. Luke doesn’t get a lot of chances to get up close and personal with many working long-haul ships, and Monsoon Echo’s beautiful. Most days Luke doesn’t mind already knowing his future won’t be like the action holofilms of Fleet starfighters bravely repelling pirates and protecting the Commonwealth from attack. Not when he gets the Temple and the Guardians and the Force. But Luke’s loved everything that flies since before he could walk, since the days, Beru says, he could only be lulled to sleep by someone setting the ship mobile above his crib spinning.</p>
<p>Bodhi’s ship and the taste of his bashful but overflowing pride in it might not be the thrill of fighting off pirates, but it’s fun, too.</p>
<p>“Can we go out of atmo sometime while you’re home?” Luke asks, plopping down in the co-pilot’s chair and propping his feet up against the console, after Bodhi’s whisked him through the engine updates.</p>
<p>“Yeah, maybe,” Bodhi offers, doing some final power-down check.</p>
<p>“Only maybe?” Luke asks, turning to look at Bodhi. “Come on, just a quick trip!” Luke puts on his best asking face, the one that Shabana says makes him look disingenuously winsome. “You totally want to show off the engine fixes!”</p>
<p>“Hey, no cheating!” Bodhi says, looking back at Luke. His tone’s reproving, but he’s wearing a small, amused smile.</p>
<p>“I’m not reading your mind!” Luke laughs. “That’s just literally what you said right over there.” Luke points back toward the engine room.</p>
<p>Bodhi’s smile grows into a grin, though he looks away and shrugs. “Yeah, well. We’ll see.” He bites his lip and says, “Actually, I’m thinking about getting a speeder bike?”</p>
<p>Luke slips his feet down from where he propped them up against the console. “Really?” he asks, leaning. “Like, here?”</p>
<p>“I, yeah. Where else?” Bodhi rolls his shoulders and looks away again.</p>
<p>“I don’t know, on Chandrila?” Luke says, shrugging easily. He wonders idly if the streets are less packed in Hanna City. Somehow the pictures make him think so.</p>
<p>“Nah, when I’m not really flying, I hardly go anywhere I can’t walk there,” Bodhi says, standing up, dusting off his pants. “Jedha’s better for speeder bikes.”</p>
<p>Luke grins and hops up, too. He’s supposed to be slowly preparing himself for a life where he will have few personal possessions, will never own anything like a speeder bike. He’s meant to spend his life learning and re-learning everything but the Force is impermanent, that to say anything belongs to someone or something is only an attempt to pin down air. But even still, Luke’s glad that Bodhi still loves Jedha best. (He’s pretty sure the Force doesn’t mind him feeling that way. After all, it was Bodhi who was right beside him when Luke first entered the Temple, Bodhi who was there when Luke first met Chirrut. Luke has always been certain the Force meant for them to know each other.)</p>
<p>“You’ll show me when you get the bike, right?” Luke asks, as he follows Bodhi back out of Monsoon Echo.</p>
<p>Bodhi chuckles briefly and says, “I feel like you’d just turn up if I didn’t.”</p>
<p>“Bodhi!” Luke repeats.</p>
<p>“Okay, yes, fine!” Bodhi says, walking backward a few steps across the landing bay, holding up his hands. “I promise you’ll be the first person to know when I get a speeder bike. Now hurry up, or Amma’s gonna ask me what took so long and I’ll blame you.”</p>
<p>“Won’t work!” Luke shoots back, a bounce in his step. It’s nice, having Bodhi home.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Because Bodhi keeps his promises, especially to Luke, who seems to take it as a matter of absolute trust that Bodhi will always keep his word, the first person to see Bodhi’s new speeder bike is Luke.</p>
<p>“Oh, it’s <em>nice</em>!” Luke says, bending down to inspect the engines more closely. “I bet it’s so fast.” Luke’s tone has shot far past wistful, to bordering on jealous.</p>
<p>“Aren’t you not supposed to covet fast speeder bikes?” Bodhi laughs.</p>
<p>Luke pulls up, mouth set in a little disapproving line. Bodhi’d never tell Luke, because Luke would probably find a way to stop talking to him for at least the rest of his visit, dramatic teenager that he is, but it reminds Bodhi of nothing more than Hashim Uncle’s face eating lime pickle.</p>
<p>“I’m not <em>coveting</em>,” Luke says, arms crossed. “I’m admiring.”</p>
<p>“Right, because you definitely don’t want to try flying it yourself,” Bodhi says, barely holding back a grin.</p>
<p>But then Luke looks up, wide-eyed, like he’s ten again and just had the sudden epiphany that his greatest goal in life is to pet the street loth-cat that frequents the alley between their houses.</p>
<p>“Oh, no, I didn’t say —” Bodhi starts, but of course it’s too late.</p>
<p>“<em>Could </em>I?” Luke asks. He smiles, sweet like summer mango. Bodhi wonders if the Guardians put him on alms collection duty to take advantage of that. It would probably work.</p>
<p>Bodhi, however, isn’t going to be swayed. “Nope,” he says, still, shaking his head. Luke’s still weeks from his sixteenth birthday and the last thing Bodhi needs is a run in with a bunch of annoyed community wardens during the short weeks he’s home. There is absolutely no way Luke won’t take the opportunity to break the speed limit. As far away as he now is from Tatooine’s lawlessness, Luke still retains an utter incomprehension (bordering on disdain) of speed limits.</p>
<p>“C’mon, you know how good I am on the sims! You always said you’d help teach me, when I was old enough,” Luke says. “And now I practically already have my license!”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I said that before I learned about the many, many ways you can die in crashes,” Bodhi says. He sounds, he realizes with a sinking feeling, like Khadijah Aunty with her catastrophizing.</p>
<p>Luke must sense his weakness (Bodhi maintains Luke’s empathetic reading is just as much cheating as counting cards), because he adds very earnestly, “I’ll be so careful, you know I will.” As the crowning moment of his argument, Luke closes, “And you’re the one who always says I should be out having more regular teenage experiences.”</p>
<p>Bodhi sighs, worries his lip between his teeth. “Fine,” he says, throwing up his arms in defeat. “But not here! We’ll go out past the city edge, so you can’t topple over half a market’s worth of stalls over.”</p>
<p>“I would never,” Luke says primly.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Luke waits with what he thinks is perfectly natural impatience. He can just see the bike in the Rook’s courtyard from his bedroom window, like it’s calling to him.</p>
<p>Even so, it takes a couple more days for Bodhi to finally agree to a time and a place, and he makes Luke wear a helmet even to get on behind him. But the wait and the fussing are absolutely worth it. Bodhi's new speeder bike is lovely — not so fancy or tricked out that it’s silly or impractical for daily use, but responsive and powerful, like it could take you all the way through Hasan’s Pass and onto Behaan. It’s definitely more fun than the beat-up water hauler Luke’s been learning on. Luke’s half-convinced Owen and Beru bought the widest, most lumbering speeder bike they could just to slow him down. Bodhi has much better taste.</p>
<p>“Hey,” Luke says, propping his chin on Bodhi’s shoulder for a moment, once they’re squeezed into the Thalen Gate Elevator, along with dozens of other people and vehicles headed into the New City. “I’m excited about this. Thanks.”</p>
<p>Bodhi chuckles. “Yeah, I know. You’ve only been asking me about it everyday.”</p>
<p>“It’s a compliment!” Luke insists.</p>
<p>Bodhi hums rather uncertainly, which Luke doesn’t think is at all fair, but just then, the elevator judders to a halt.</p>
<p>“Okay,” Bodhi says, kicking up the kickstand as the elevator doors open and they exit. “We’ll head out past the city limits and then you can take over.”</p>
<p>Luke nods, bringing his hands back up to grip Bodhi’s shoulders as he navigates them through the wider streets of the New City. Luke doesn’t really need it to keep his balance, but it’s an indulgence he can give into so long as Bodhi can’t see him. Bodhi has nice shoulders and ever since he went to the Academy, he doesn’t hunch them so much — they must do drills, in the Fleet.</p>
<p>As they fly, the spaces between buildings broaden and the arches and caves beyond the Holy City begin to dominate the view. They’re almost to the edge of the Dua Flats, the long expanse of desert unfolding out in front of them when Bodhi stops.</p>
<p>“Alright,” he says, “no community wardens out here to scandalize when they’re forced to ticket a Guardian trainee.”</p>
<p>Luke hops off, bouncing on his feet lightly. The sky over Jedha feels even bigger outside of the city. He takes a breath in. This is the way the pilgrims who come on foot for the Return come from, on their way towards Ananda’s Stairs, the final ascent into the Holy City. This is the way he’ll come back, a few years from now, when he makes his First Journey. For a moment, the future shimmers in front of him — the desert dust beneath his boots, the way the City will rise up in front of him, the Force calling him home, back to the Temple, the way it has since his first day on Jedha.</p>
<p>“Hey,” he hears.</p>
<p>Bodhi’s hand on his shoulder brings him back to the present.</p>
<p>“Alright?” Bodhi asks, frowning.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Luke says, the odd, uplifted feeling lingering in his chest. He smiles. “This was a good spot to pick.”</p>
<p>Bodhi smiles, very small, with more than a hint of perplexity to it. “Yeah, I thought so, anyway,” he says anyway. Then he reaches out and snaps the band of Luke’s goggles, saying, “Get these on properly first, yeah?”</p>
<p>“Stop worrying so much!” Luke says, grinning. He pulls down his goggles though, as asked.</p>
<p>“Alright,” Bodhi says, biting his lip, then nodding toward the speeder bike. “Your turn then.”</p>
<p>Luke can feel himself flush at that, up his cheeks and down his neck. But he just drops eye contact and hops on, concentrating on getting a feel for the controls. Only when Bodhi’s arms wrap around his waist, a slim, firm anchor, Luke can feel his heartbeat pick up. He can hear the rush of his blood in his ears and the back of his neck goes hot from simply knowing how close Bodhi’s breath is.</p>
<p>“Ready?” Bodhi asks.</p>
<p>Luke doesn’t trust himself not to say something weird if he tries to talk. So instead he takes a deep inhale, kicks up the stand, and revs the engine. Then he presses down on the accelerator and propels the bike out into the bright expanse of desert. Dust swirls up beneath them and the wind whips at their jacket sleeves.</p>
<p>In his ear, Bodhi laughs.</p>
<p>Luke’s stomach flips, and it’s not because of the speed.</p>
<hr/>
<p>The Dua Flats are beautiful at this speed, more than a few shades past anything that could be called reasonable. Luke’s been taking them in a broad circuit across the northern edge of the Flats, the mesa of NiJedha rising behind them. The sun’s starting to get lower in the sky, though, and Bodhi can tell the temperature is going to drop.</p>
<p>“One more round, okay?” Bodhi half-yells above the thrum of the engine, leaning in further towards Luke’s ear.</p>
<p>Luke gives a brief shiver, the bike wavering off balance for just a moment before it centers once more. It’s long enough to make Bodhi’s heart go double time, though. Luke’s always been a good pilot, impossible to distract, even when the arcade sims were set to difficult and he had a crowd yelling encouragement in his ear.</p>
<p>“I got it!” Luke says, re-adjusting his grip on the handles.</p>
<p>Why would Bodhi yelling of all things throw Luke off, Bodhi wonders. Then suddenly, in a cascade, it hits him — Luke’s uncharacteristic shyness when he’d first gotten to the landing bay, the faint blush on his cheeks that has seemed near-permanent this whole visit. <em>Oh</em>. Luke’s fifteen-going-on-sixteen, now, and when Bodhi was that age, he might well have actually crashed a speeder bike if someone with a nice enough smile and a willingness to go joyriding had spoken into his ear. Right.</p>
<p>Bodhi carefully loosens his arms from around Luke’s waist. He doesn’t let go entirely, because surely that would be the weirder thing to do. He’d hate for Luke to feel self-conscious (or more self-conscious, maybe), when Bodhi remembers all too well what it felt like to be that age, curious and confused and desperately uncomfortable in his own skin.</p>
<p>Also, Luke’s still going fast enough that the wind is whipping at their clothes. Bodhi’s not sure letting go entirely is a good idea, not when Luke’s very fond of taking hairpin turns.</p>
<p>When their arc takes them back in towards the city, Luke pulls them up to one of the New City gates and gentles the bike to a park without Bodhi having to say anything. As Bodhi gets off, he catches sight of Luke almost petting one of the bike handles before following suit. Bodhi nearly laughs, but he gets it. He’s definitely planning on making as much use of the bike as he can, while he’s home.</p>
<p>“Thanks,” Luke says, pulling his goggles up, grinning.</p>
<p>Later, sitting on Bodhi’s family’s back stoop, looking out on the courtyard, they drink steaming cups of chai. It’s a little too chilly — harvest will be over soon and Jedha’s natural cold is all too eager to return — but it’s nice, watching the buildings glow orange under the low sun. Just as the light starts to dip toward the horizon, Luke checks his chrono and says, “Come on, it’s time for sundown prayers.”</p>
<p>Luke joins Bodhi and his parents in their tiny prayer room, at the top of the house, and after, Amma frets about whether Luke’s getting enough protein for a growing boy.</p>
<p>Which leads to Luke staying for dinner, despite his assurances that he’s being fed perfectly well at home and at the Temple.</p>
<p>Later, in the middle of Bodhi once again fleecing Luke at Liar’s Cut, probably because despite Bodhi teaching him the rules of the card game multiple times, Luke’s facial expressions are just too obvious for him to ever successfully play, Luke asks, “What’re you gonna do with it?”</p>
<p>“With what?” Bodhi asks, looking up from his hand.</p>
<p>“The speeder bike,” Luke says, as if this should be obvious. “I mean, it’s just, you’re hardly here?”</p>
<p>Bodhi frowns. For a distractible teen, Luke has an uncanny ability to pull out insights when just a moment before he’d been doing something utterly adolescent.</p>
<p>“I thought maybe Divya could use it,” Bodhi says. “So she can get back from Zayna’s at night if she wants to, without taking the tram all the time.”</p>
<p>Luke nods. “That’s nice of you,” he says, looking back down at his cards and frowning.</p>
<p>Bodhi shrugs. “She’s never gonna buy one for herself, so she might as well borrow this one.”</p>
<p>“She’s always going to fly it way below the speed limit though.” Luke laughs quietly.</p>
<p>Bodhi groans. “I know! She flies like my dad already and she’s twenty-six.”</p>
<p>“I could always take it out sometimes, make sure it’s still working right,” Luke offers, with a wide, too-innocent grin.</p>
<p>“Uh huh,” Bodhi says, raising his eyebrows. “Just a completely selfless interest?”</p>
<p>“I’m really good at fixing things!” Luke says.</p>
<p>Bodhi shakes his head, smiling despite himself. “You can ask Divya,” he says.</p>
<p>Luke beams, puts down a card, and groans when he loses yet another hand.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you all so much to everyone who's commented so far! It means a lot. As a heads up, I am moving next week and starting grad school part 2 - hopefully this time it sticks? Updates should keep coming but if there's any disruptions in the posting schedule, that's probably why!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Luke’s seventeen when Bodhi’s older sister Divya announces that she and her girlfriend Zayna are getting married, as soon as an auspicious date can be found. Luke’s half-way across the moon, just arriving in Baithun City after a training hike, when Divya shares that she’s getting married with apparently the whole neighborhood at once, yelling it out into the night market bustle. Shabana tells Luke all of it in detail, when he comms her from the Sanctuary in Baithun City.</p>
<p>Luke’s honestly a little too tired to find the story as funny as he probably otherwise would. But it means that when he gets back to Jedha City three weeks later, dusty and sweaty, feeling both accomplished and very much in need of a shower, the wedding preparations are well underway. Apparently when Divya said as soon as possible, she really meant it.</p>
<p>“Eight days from now?” Luke repeats, when he’s home for the evening and Aunt Beru’s explained the details. “Is that enough time to plan a wedding?”</p>
<p>He’s been to weddings in the neighborhood over the years because it’d be impossible to avoid them, and he’s awkwardly lingered in the background of strangers’ weddings in his Guardian novice robes occasionally. Though that’s not really an actual duty — it’s just lucky, supposedly, to have Guardians at your wedding feast. Chirrut seems to enjoy indulging people’s earnest invitations (“An incurable romantic,” Baze likes to scoff, to which Chirrut always responds, “And lucky for you!”). In any case, weddings generally seem like a lot of work.</p>
<p>“Ordinarily, I’d say no.” Beru smiles. “But Divya is very good at getting what she wants.”</p>
<p>“Bodhi’s coming home for it?” Luke asks.</p>
<p>Beru’s smile turns a little too knowing, which isn’t fair, because it’s not like Luke’s been sighing over a holo of Bodhi in private. Besides, there’s been certain developments in his life that he’s pretty sure even Beru can’t have figured out yet (and which Luke is absolutely not going to tell her about so soon, since he hardly knows himself where any of it’s going).</p>
<p>“Of course he is,” Beru says. “That’ll be nice for you, won’t it?”</p>
<p>“Nicer for Divya, probably,” Luke manages in a mumble.</p>
<p>But in any case, wedding or no, Luke’s in his final year of school and final year of training before his First Journey. He’s been gone almost a month, time the rest of his year at school has spent studying for school-leaving exams.</p>
<p>So right after dinner, he heads back to the room in the Temple barracks he shares with the other Guardian novices his age. He’s determined to throw himself into his neglected school subjects — long, quiet hikes through the desert might be exactly the right environment for contemplating the lessons of the great old Teachers of the Path, marveling at the ingenuity of ancient Jedhan sandstone carvings, and watching the sunset over the horizon, but they’re not as well suited to cramming for a mechanics practical.</p>
<p>When Luke hops off the tram and rounds the corner, headed toward the side entrance of the Temple grounds, the sight of a lanky, very familiar boy sitting on a bench stops him short.</p>
<p>“Hey! I, uh, remembered that you said you’d be back today,” Harun says, standing up. He’s wearing that crooked smile that makes him look just a little mischievous, even though he’s maybe the most habitually serious, careful person their age that Luke knows.</p>
<p>Harun had kissed Luke good-bye, just before Luke left for Baithun City, which he hadn’t expected. He’d startled a little at first, but then after that, it’d been sort of wonderful — awkward, and warm, and enthusiastic in a way Luke’s idle daydreams of kissing Harun never captured. The thought of kissing Harun again popped up when he was supposed to be meditating in the caves on the way to Baithun City more times than Luke would like to admit.</p>
<p>Luke would really like more kissing to be on the table.</p>
<p>Luke licks his lips and says, “Um, yeah. Hi! It’s good to see you.” He wants to cover his face with his hands, at that. If Harun, who consistently looks like he wants to puke before oral exams, can handle this conversation, why can’t Luke manage something a little more inviting than platitudes?</p>
<p>“I, ah, brought notes from mechanics class?” Harun says, holding up a datapad. “So you can catch up.”</p>
<p>“Thanks,” Luke says, a rush of real gratitude coming over him. He gathers his courage and asks, “Do you, um. Do you wanna come in?” He nods back towards the courtyard of the Guardian’s living quarters. “You could walk me through the diagrams maybe? If you have time?”</p>
<p>Harun sticks his hands in his pockets and nods. “Yeah,” he says, nodding and beginning to smile. “That’d be cool. I could do that.”</p>
<p>“Great,” Luke agrees, breaking into a grin that’s probably too enthusiastic, feeling an excited flutter in his stomach.</p>
<hr/>
<p>“Do Jedhans usually get married on short notice?” Jyn asks. She’s sitting on his bed in his quarters, watching him pack.</p>
<p>“Just my sister,” Bodhi replies. “My mother’s going back and forth between being ecstatic she’s settling down and wanting to throttle her for getting married in such a last-minute way.”</p>
<p>“That’s how I’d do it.” Jyn nods. “Just out of the blue.”</p>
<p>That is definitely not how weddings go on Jedha, rushed or not, but Bodhi’s derailed from that thought by a more interesting question suddenly popping into his mind. “Oh, have you and Cassian… ” Bodhi trails off.</p>
<p>It’s hard to imagine Jyn and Cassian doing something as <em>traditional</em> as getting married, but then, of course, it’s hard to imagine either of them ever sharing their lives so wholeheartedly with anyone but each other (and maybe Kay). Though Force knows that over the past couple of years, Bodhi’s imagination has come up with more than a handful of unlikely scenarios wherein some mission would end with them both kissing him (preferably after expounding on his life-saving flying and the peerless merits of his ship).</p>
<p>Not, of course, that Bodhi has ever even considered acting on those distinctly unrealistic fantasies (Cassian and Jyn treat Monsoon Echo affectionately, like a lucky charm, but neither of them are anywhere near as effusive in real life as they are in Bodhi’s dreams). He likes them too much as friends and knows them too well as people to imagine any kind of romantic relationship with either or both of them could compare to the history they share with each other.</p>
<p>“Have we discussed getting married imminently?” Jyn laughs. “Definitely not. Can you imagine?” Her face turns thoughtful after a beat. “Maybe we’ll elope, one day. Papa’d hate that, though. He’s got surprisingly strong feelings about that sort of thing.”</p>
<p>Bodhi hums. That’s not that hard for him to imagine, actually. Bodhi’s only met Dr. Erso a handful of times, but he’d struck Bodhi as a man still in mourning.</p>
<p>“Not bringing a guest with you?” Jyn suddenly asks. When Bodhi looks up from his bag, she’s grinning, of course.</p>
<p>“Who would I bring?” Bodhi asks, lightly. “You, Cassian, and Kay can’t come, and Kari’d probably try to drink my uncles under the table.”</p>
<p>“Oh, I don’t know, Sergeant al-Baiyan, maybe?” Jyn says, raising her eyebrows.</p>
<p>Bodhi can feel his cheeks abruptly go warm. “Oh, we’re not —” He clears his throat. “It’s not really like that.”</p>
<p>“Mmm,” Jyn says, blatantly amused.</p>
<p>Bodhi huffs and shoves a sweater into his bag.</p>
<p>“You know, I bet he wouldn’t mind going on a real date with you, if you asked,” Jyn offers.</p>
<p>“Yeah. Maybe,” Bodhi shrugs, vaguely uncomfortable not because he thinks Jyn’s wrong but because he has no particular longing to share dinner and a walk by the Silver Sea with Fia al-Baiyan, despite genuinely liking him (and his very, very nice abs). “But it’s kind of a jump from that to inviting him home, isn’t it?”</p>
<p>Jyn sighs extravagantly and shakes her head. “He’s got fantastic physique and high competency with projecticles. What’s missing?”</p>
<p>Bodhi pauses in his packing and looks at her, trying not to sputter in indignation. Because she and Cassian are so perfectly suited, he forgets sometimes how very skewed Jyn’s standards can be. “Neither of those things is really much of an indicator of whether you’re capable of offering long-term emotional support,” Bodhi says slowly.</p>
<p>“Well, the projectiles,” Jyn begins, which can only go disturbing places.</p>
<p>“Besides,” Bodhi says, cutting off that thought, tilting his chin up, “he’s not enthusiastic enough about my ship.”</p>
<p>Jyn laughs, though he can tell it’s affectionate. “If that’s your standard, you’re never going to find anyone,” she says. “No one’s ever going to love that ship as much as you do.”</p>
<p>“Monsoon Echo is beautiful and underappreciated by too many,” Bodhi says, with staunch loyalty. “You know I’ve flown —”</p>
<p>“The Chief Minister herself,” Jyn finishes, rolling her eyes and hopping off his bed. “Alright, I give up.”</p>
<p>But despite that, she gives him a tight hug, her hair pressed to his chin. Bodhi squeezes her back, because it’s always hard to predict when Jyn will allow physical affection and it’s best to take advantage when an opportunity presents itself.</p>
<p>“Have fun,” Jyn says, stepping back.</p>
<p>Bodhi nods, and a little swirl of unease blooms in his gut. He doesn’t know where Jyn, Cassian, and Kaytoo are off to this week — he rarely does — but he’ll worry regardless. “Be careful,” he offers in return.</p>
<p>Jyn smiles at him and says, simply, “We always are.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>Luke's trying to study at his desk in the room he shares with the other Guardian novices. They're all living at the Temple in the lead-up to their First Journeys. It's dormitory-style, with little privacy, just rows of beds and desks. Most of the time, Luke doesn’t mind or even really notice the way they all live on top of one another; he’s come to find the psychic background noise of his peers close at hand comforting. But today, it’s frustrating. He's trying to concentrate, but there’s always someone in and out, always someone’s excitement or frustration or half-sensed train of thought drifting by.</p>
<p>And that’s before the window closest to him starts getting hit with pebbles. Luke tries to ignore it at first, but the sound gets under his skin. When it doesn’t stop after the first one or two, Luke throws open the window, prepared to scold whoever’s pelting Temple property. Only there aren't any kids in the alley, but instead a very familiar face flashing him a grin.</p>
<p>"Hey, stranger," Bodhi says, giving a little wave.</p>
<p>“You’re home!” Luke says. “I thought you weren’t due in until —”</p>
<p>“Yesterday?” Bodhi offers, tipping his head sideways.</p>
<p>Luke winces. “Oh, no, I’m sorry! I didn’t come to the landing bay!” It’s probably silly to feel so sad now, when that’s probably always been more exciting for Luke than it has for Bodhi, but it was a ritual, and rituals are important.</p>
<p>“'Salright,” Bodhi shrugs. “Bit mean, but —”</p>
<p>“Bodhi!” Luke protests. “It wasn’t on purpose! It’s just that my exams are —”</p>
<p>“I’m kidding,” Bodhi says, with a little smile and a placating open palm held up. The faint unease in Luke’s stomach ebbs. “Your aunt and uncle were saying you’ve been swamped. Thought I would come see how you’re doing.”</p>
<p>Luke lets himself slump against the window frame. “Awful,” he groans.</p>
<p>Down in the alley, Bodhi huffs a laugh. “Come on,” he gestures. “Come get some fresh air.”</p>
<p>Luke looks back at his desk, where his datapads are open to engine blueprints, cross-sections of different styles of Jedhan sandstone cave carvings, and notes on the seasonal cycles of Jedha’s sacred monsoon-made ponds and rivers. Harun, in addition to being an excellent kisser, is a conscientious note-taker. But even his help can’t quite make up for the lack of time on Luke’s hands. It would be horrible to have his waiting seat at the Central University revoked because he hadn’t spent enough time reading about the effect of pondweed on soil composition.</p>
<p>Luke begins, “I don’t think I —”</p>
<p>But then Zhi-Alam hisses, “Could you please take this conversation <em>outside</em>?” from further down the room, looking up from xer own desk, all four of xer eyes glaring. It’s uncharacteristic, but xer training hike to Ilian had taken longer than expected, and xe only got back to the Temple the day before yesterday and the countdown to exam period is growing ever shorter.</p>
<p>Luke grimaces down at Bodhi, trying to express that tempers are shorter than usual without having to say that out loud. That would definitely set off unpleasantness he’d rather avoid.</p>
<p>“Bring your books,” Bodhi says, amusement flashing across his face. “Monsoon Echo will be quiet.”</p>
<p>It’s a brilliant suggestion and Luke can’t believe he didn’t think of that option himself earlier. Soon enough, they’re ensconced in Bodhi’s ship, where Luke can spread his things out along the table in the common space, studying where Chief Minister Mothma herself might have sat during some flight.</p>
<p>“It won’t be boring for you?” Luke asks, feeling just a moment of hesitation as he’s about to pull up his notes. He’d like to actually hang out with Bodhi. Hear about what he and Monsoon Echo have been up to, or crawl through the engine room while Bodhi points out upgrades.</p>
<p>“With everything going on at home, boring is basically a treat,” Bodhi says. Then he waves a hand and adds, “Go ahead and study. I remember the spring of my last year. It was awful until exams were over.”</p>
<p>So Luke does, diving into his review, working through his hydrology notes first, then flicking his holodisplay up off the table with the Force so it floats, rotating it in front of him so he can better see the engine cross-section piece by piece.</p>
<p>“That’s not abusing your powers?” Bodhi’s voice asks, from behind him.</p>
<p>Luke startles for a moment, tumbling from his immersion in engine parts to his surroundings abruptly. He has to throw his hands out to keep his holodisplay from violently clattering to the table. “Making efficient use of space,” he says, turning to face Bodhi, who’s come in from the small kitchen holding two steaming mugs.</p>
<p>“Here,” Bodhi says, holding out one of the mugs. “Time to take a break, yeah?”</p>
<p>Luke rolls his shoulders back, and uses the last of his concentration to stack his datapads to one side of the table, and land the holodisplay on top. Then he says, “That sounds great.”</p>
<p>Bodhi snorts, but sits down across from him and slides over one of the mugs.</p>
<p>Taking the mug, Luke holds it up to breathe in the scent of the hot chocolate and then takes a sip. It’s thick and just the right balance of sweet and bitter.</p>
<p>“Thanks,” Luke says.</p>
<p>“Sure,” Bodhi replies, smiling.</p>
<p>“So!” Luke says, leaning forward. “Tell me about what upgrades Monsoon Echo’s gotten!”</p>
<hr/>
<p>Even after hours of greeting an endless stream of family and friends and well-wishers following the ceremony, Divya and Zayna both look stunningly happy. The embroidery on the red skirts of their wedding suits catch the light and the bangles on their arms chime together because they’re holding hands any moment they’re close enough to one another.</p>
<p>“They look really excited to be married,” a voice behind Bodhi says.</p>
<p>When he turns around, it’s Kavi. She looks beautiful, of course. Her hair’s swept back and as she settles against the courtyard wall by him, Bodhi catches the scent of the flowers pinned there. Even Bodhi’s got a few blooms pinned into his own too-short hair, though he suspects they’re a bit worse for the wear at this point.</p>
<p>“Yeah, they really do,” he finally says, hoping he hasn’t waited too long a time to reply.</p>
<p>It’s a little strange, seeing Kavi today, in a way it usually isn’t. They’ve stayed friends, shooting each other warm, chatty messages semi-regularly, seeing each other for dinner with Javed when Bodhi’s home.</p>
<p>But Kavi’s also the person Bodhi once thought he would marry. And she’s here with Hari, the guy she’s been seeing for more than two years now. Bodhi’s met Hari before, and likes him, likes the way he makes Kavi laugh. For just this moment, though, Bodhi breathes in the floral scent of Kavi’s hair and lets himself feel a slight ache in his chest for the potential future that faded away the day he called that Fleet recruiter.</p>
<p>“What’s with this face?” Javed says, bouncing down the steps from the house and squeezing Bodhi’s cheeks in his hand. “Your sister’s wedding day! Smile a little.”</p>
<p>Kavi laughs as Bodhi wrenches his chin out of Javed’s reach and sticks his tongue out.</p>
<p>“You sound like your mum,” Bodhi tells Javed, who groans.</p>
<p>“Don’t say that!” he protests.</p>
<p>Bodhi laughs at Javed’s expression and his good mood surges back. Like they’re pre-teens again, he and Javed and Kavi, and Hari, once Kavi’s snagged him away from some aunties, pile their plates high with more food. Bodhi also confiscates a bottle of whiskey from Hashim Uncle. Bodhi justifies the near-theft by pointing out to Hashim that he’s already more tipsy than he should be. Especially considering that Bodhi definitely saw Luke’s Guardian mentor in the courtyard. While Hashim is going a little pale, they all escape upstairs into the house. Bodhi’s childhood bedroom is miraculously empty when they tumble in, laughing. It does look a bit like a war zone, with evidence everywhere that Divya had commandeered it to get ready in before the ceremony.</p>
<p>“Sabacc?” Bodhi proposes, pulling an old set of cards triumphantly out of his bedside table.</p>
<p>Despite some grumbling from Kavi and Javed about how Bodhi better not try to cheat, they all acquiesce. The evening grows blue-black outside as they eat, and drink, and play. When they hear faint footsteps approaching some time later, they all scramble to hide the evidence of all behavior that will get them a scolding, no matter how indisputably adult they all are now.</p>
<p>Only it’s Luke standing in the doorway, dressed in black robes — no, blue so dark it’s almost black. They’re cut long, almost as long as a full Guardian would wear, the fabric swaying slightly around his calves. It makes him look older than usual. It’s sort of strange, Bodhi thinks. Like a peek into the future.</p>
<p>"You hid the cards but not the whiskey?" Luke asks, dry as summer wind.</p>
<p>Bodhi’s not entirely certain how exactly Luke figured out about the sabacc. But given how long he’s known Bodhi, it probably wouldn’t be that hard to deduce even without the telepathy. Luke is unfortunately also right about their failure to actually hide the whiskey.</p>
<p>"Hari, behind the lamp?" groans Kavi. "Really?"</p>
<p>"I panicked!" Hari protests.</p>
<p>"What if I'd been one of your mothers?" Luke asks, shaking his head, a small hint of a smile emerging at one edge of his mouth.</p>
<p>"Eh, if it were my ma, she'd've come in here crying about why haven't I found someone to court yet," Javed laughs. "We would have known it was her all the way down the hall."</p>
<p>"You walk too quiet," Hari informs Luke. "It's scary."</p>
<p>"Already making a good Guardian," Kavi grins. "The coming out of nowhere, the judgmental stare."</p>
<p>"Uh, is someone looking for us?" Bodhi asks, trying to get things back on track. He’s definitely tipsy and it takes extra concentration to focus on Luke’s response.</p>
<p>“Yeah, your dad,” Luke says. “There’s singing happening, he wants you there.”</p>
<p>So they all hoist themselves up and clamber down the stairs back into the courtyard, the devotional songs floating up to meet them. Abbu and Asha, along with a motley assortment of musical relatives and friends from both sides of the wedding party who formed the processional band earlier, are just starting a new song. Divya’s standing to the side of them, resting her cheek on Zayna’s shoulder.</p>
<p>“Come, come,” Abbu calls, waving Bodhi over.</p>
<p>Bodhi hops down the final steps, but pauses for a second to look back to Luke. “Gonna join us?” Bodhi asks, grabbing at Luke’s sleeve and grinning.</p>
<p>Bodhi knows that Luke loves listening to the singing in the Temple courtyard, has since he was a kid. But he always, as an absolute rule, lurks on the sidelines with the other Guardian novices, quietly listening. The concept of public singing seems to fill Luke with a degree of horror most people reserve for snakes or cleaning drains.</p>
<p>“No-<em>ope</em>,” Luke says, whirling away, fleeing off to join Shabana and a bunch of other teenagers Bodhi only vaguely recognizes.</p>
<p>Bodhi laughs and goes to take a seat amongst the singers, squeezing in by his brother-in-law, Arvind, who claps him on the shoulder.</p>
<p>“The painter of the sunset, the origin of all color,” Bodhi picks up the chorus, singing into the dark of the Jedha’s night.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Luke turns eighteen exactly ten standard days before his school-leaving exams start, which means he’s hardly in the mood to celebrate. But Owen and Beru insist on him coming home for dinner that night, where they’ve gone to the bother of preparing his favorite dishes.</p>
<p>Their gifts are practical, items he can add to his First Journey travel pack without having to pull from the Temple’s stock — a solid pair of goggles, an insulated water bag, and some macrobinoculars.</p>
<p>“Might as well break them in now,” Owen says.</p>
<p>Beru squeezes Luke’s hand and smiles.</p>
<p>That summer is the first free of summer-term classes since he’s come to Jedha. But while most of his class are celebrating and preparing for university or the Fleet Academy or whatever else they’re doing, Luke is spending all his hours at the Temple, or else conditioning himself for his First Journey.</p>
<p>The First Journey is every Guardian novice’s first great test, the undertaking that will determine if they are inducted into the ranks as a full Guardian. Each novice picks a route, recreating some fragment of the journeys Ananda once took across NaJedha to spread his message, spending months in transit as he and his first disciples did. Every novice goes, but they all go alone. They set off to different parts of the planet, meditating in the ancient caves, resting where there’s shelter, eating and drinking and taking only what is freely given to them.</p>
<p>Devi tells him, “They’re right, it will change you.” She had come back from her own First Journey with a sketchbook filled with vivid drawings and a trove of stories about the people she met.</p>
<p>Luke departs just as the monsoon's early intensity begins to ease.</p>
<hr/>
<p>When Bodhi is twenty-three, his niece is born. She is tiny and perfect and sort of terrifying to hold. Bodhi loves her even before he first sees her. But now that he’s here, and Tarika’s in his arms, the wonder of it presses on his chest. She’s a whole little person, who will have a favorite sweet and a least favorite piece of clothing. Someone who will walk barefoot across the Temple courtyard as countless generations have before. And someone who he can teach to fly, one day.</p>
<p>Asha huffs, hearing that last bit, mumbling, “Between you and Arvind, she’ll probably be racking up speeding tickets as soon as she can walk,” lolling her head back against the divan cushions.</p>
<p>“You like the sound of that?” Bodhi asks Tarika, tracing a finger along her tiny nose. “Yeah, of course you do!”</p>
<p>Bodhi sends about a dozen holos to friends back on Chandrila and posted across the Commonwealth.</p>
<p>Between visits to Asha’s, Bodhi mostly wanders through the city, seeing it anew. The city Tarika’s been born into is a world away from the city of Bodhi’s childhood. It’s different, even, than the city Bodhi left at eighteen.</p>
<p>The edges of the New City are creeping out past the gates and the vendors at the familiar market stalls have been replaced by their own children, or sometimes entirely different stalls selling entirely different wares. The streets are busy once more, and there are far fewer grim-faced bounty hunters and antiquities smugglers lingering around corners than there were even a few years ago.</p>
<p>The change truly hits Bodhi in the chest when he’s walking through Kalakar Bazaar and notices his favorite old movie theater — opulent even during its slow decline throughout the occupation, the Struggle, and after — is closed. The Janat always made Abbu and Amma smile and reminisce about their youth, when Jedha City and the Republic were thriving, and the movie palace was already a place of memory and allure.</p>
<p>“Oh, yeah, the Janat’s been closed for months,” Kavi says, when she meets him for lunch, her eyes round and too kind. “But they’re, uh, they’re gonna turn it into some kind of live theater place, I heard! You know, the Historical Preservation Committee designated it as a cultural landmark and all.”</p>
<p>“Fancy,” Bodhi says, but still, some edge of his mournful nostalgia lingers.</p>
<p>It’s not that Bodhi doesn’t know that the City has continued changing since he left. His whole life he’s been taught the only two true constants in the galaxy are the Force and the inevitability of change. But it’s still strange, disconcerting, to find the landscape that’s carved into his sense of himself now altered.</p>
<p>But he can admit, for the most part, the change is for the better. The murals splayed across the sides of buildings are brighter now, celebratory rather than defiant, and there are no Storm Troopers rolling in and blacking them over with Imperial ordinance posters. Tarika will only ever know the Guardians proudly patrolling the grounds of the Temple, not hiding and hunted. She will, Force willing, never fear crowds for who or what might be hidden among them.</p>
<p>One morning, Bodhi takes Tarika up to the roof of Asha and Arvind’s apartment building in Danesh Nagar, near the main elevator to the New City below. Both halves of the city sprawl out before them, the Temple dominating the skyline of the Old City, and the shiny chrome of the New City’s towers reflecting the sunlight back.</p>
<p>“You’ll love this city,” Bodhi whispers to Tarika, who purses her lips and blinks. She’s curious, Bodhi thinks. “And it’ll love you,” he assures her, certain of it. The NiJedha of her childhood will be a peaceful one, a place where the brightness of her future will never be in question.</p>
<hr/>
<p>On Tatooine, the idea of walking for seven months would have been laughed at incredulously, a plan certain to amount to one kind of terrible death or another. But Jedha is a very different desert.</p>
<p>Where Luke remembers Tatooine as blindingly bright, white-gold sand and heat and the ever-lurking promise of violence, Jedha is red-brown and quickly cooling as it tumbles through fall harvest. With his now-worn but undeniably recognizable navy blue robes, Luke is welcomed like a long-lost son on the days he encounters people.</p>
<p>The routes Luke takes are rarely isolated for long — he might go a day or two without seeing another sentient being, but rarely longer. There are pilgrimage shelters, stocked with dried food and water tanks and blankets; and there are pilgrims, or townspeople, generally all too happy to offer a Guardian novice a meal to eat or a cot to sleep in.</p>
<p>“For so long, no one came,” says an elderly Abednedo woman in a village between Halima City and the Vaikaasi Caves, where Ananda once meditated. She introduces herself as Placi and claps Luke on the shoulder, nearly chittering in her excitement. “And then, slowly, slowly the pilgrims returned. Now you are the second Guardian novice I have seen in as many years!”</p>
<p>Luke smiles and sips the soup she gave him, listening as she recounts stories of the days before the Empire, when she was young and spry enough to walk to the Holy City for the Return.</p>
<p>“These days, I take the train.” Placi cackles. She leans in and says, “You know, I don’t think a little comfort is such a bad thing, when you’ve reached my age. But you’re young,” she says, nodding. “Understanding difficulty is a good thing. You will be prepared now, for when it comes into your life unexpectedly.”</p>
<p>Something in that raises the hair at the back of Luke’s neck. Like Placi’s words are a glimpse in the future. Luke shivers.</p>
<p>“I hope so,” is all he says, though.</p>
<p>When he departs the village the next morning, Luke tells Placi, “I hope we’ll see each other in NiJedha, during the Return.”</p>
<p>He reaches the Vaikaasi Caves in the late afternoon, two days later. There’s intricate statuary carved into the cliff faces and the cave interiors, monumental on the outside and astonishingly delicate inside. There are Jedi with lightsabers, standing as enormous guards on either side of the entrances to the cave complex, and inside, the walls are lined with carvings of each of the Wandering Ones, in all their familiar poses, all leading to the meditating Ananda at the center.</p>
<p>For all of this to be here still, undisturbed, is rare on Jedha now. During the occupation, so much was taken — kyber crystals, statues, paintings; all of it sacred — but the Vaikaasi Caves were too distant, too difficult to cut up, and so the desert saved this place. Luke and the thousands of pilgrims who come each year can still enter and be awed.</p>
<p>Places have a kind of footprint in the Force, if they’ve been imbued with enough emotion. Places of pain, or astonishment.</p>
<p>Here, there is peace.</p>
<p>Luke stays for days, even sleeping in the sanctuary, while other pilgrims come and go. The time allows him to form a kind of familiarity with the great figures of the Path, or at least the hints of their souls the ancient sculptors captured. Luke meditates, or watches the desert insects scitter across the cave floor, or moves through exercises at the outcropping before the cave entrance.</p>
<p>On the morning of day five, Luke wakes with the sunrise and something about the way the light hits Ilian in the distance, when he opens his eyes after dawn prayers tells him — it’s time to keep moving. He carefully packs up, says good-bye to his fellow pilgrims, and then bows to the meditating Ananda. Just past the enormous Jedi statues, Luke looks back once, taking them in. Then he begins the hike toward Ilian.</p>
<p>He gets to the Sanctuary in Ilian three days later, after sleeping in different villages along the way. The Sanctuary has letters for him, which he hoards to read later, in the semi-privacy of his cot. Luke has a personal comm, for emergencies, but he hasn’t had to use it yet. Nothing dire enough’s happened back home to warrant a call, either, even four months in. He’s glad of that, but he still misses seeing their faces, hearing their voices.</p>
<p>The letters help stem the tide of unfamiliarity. Mostly they’re from Owen and Beru, prosaic accountings of the farm and the neighborhood that end with their fervent but carefully understated hopes that Luke is well and healthy and safe, that he is nearing his return home.</p>
<p>Often there’s something from Shabana — chatty missives about life as a university student; or from Devi, usually in the form of a few sentences dashed off at the end of a sketch or holoimage she’s sharing, always some minute capture of daily life in the Holy City. They’re comforting.</p>
<p>Today, though, Luke realizes as he curls up on his side to read, there’s something rarer — a letter from Bodhi.</p>
<p>Luke had gotten a letter from Bodhi when he’d reached the Halima City Sanctuary, informing him that Asha’s baby had been born and sharing as many holoimages as the file allowed. The rest of Bodhi’s letter had been rambling, thoughtful observations about the city and adoring descriptions of his niece and funny asides about the well-wishers dropping by Asha and Arvind’s place, all of it so exactly in Bodhi’s voice that Luke could almost hear him aloud.</p>
<p>Today’s letter is no different, though Bodhi’s back on Chandrila this time, talking about his friends in the Fleet and wondering whether his baby niece Tarika can recognize his voice over a holocall.</p>
<p>When Luke falls asleep, he dreams of hyperspace, and gas giants, and someone murmuring his name softly.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Bodhi’s on base on Chandrila and finds himself awake with the sun. So he slips out of the bed, rolling his shoulders and bracing for the chill of the floor. Sure enough, against his shins, the tile is dawn-cold. It’s well into spring in Hanna City, but the early mornings, before the sun makes itself known, are dominated by the seasalt fog that rolls in from the coast. Back home, the Holy City will only just be shaking off the last clinging vestiges of winter as it heads into first harvest. That’s one thing the Fleet’s home and Bodhi’s home have in common: the season of rebirth always starts sluggishly, reluctantly.</p>
<p>Bodhi closes his eyes, breathes in, and begins his prayers. When he’s done, he opens his eyes slowly, deeply aware now of the soft sounds of the city at dawn. He rises to his feet, pushes back the utilitarian curtains that adorn every junior officer’s quarters on base, and looks out. He’d forgotten what it felt like, to see a city at this hour of his own volition, not because he had somewhere to go, some exercise to run or mission to meet.</p>
<p>Bodhi never walked away from the Path, but he’d . . . lapsed, is maybe the right word. It was easy to slowly slip away from daily prayers and the dozens of arcane prohibitions when he left for the Academy. On Jedha, in the Holy City, the beating heart of the Path, it was easy to be pious. In the Fleet, far from the Temple, and the kyber, and the interfering aunties and uncles reminding him of everything, it was even easier to be lax. It had felt sort of freeing, after a little while. Like he was getting away with something. Like he was learning himself with the scaffolding finally removed.</p>
<p>But since coming back from his last visit to Jedha, Bodhi's been doing his prayers more often. Maybe it was something about seeing Tarika's round infant face and thinking about the kind of uncle he wants to be, or the knowledge that Luke was out walking Jedha's cold desert out of love and dedication. But either way, it had felt right, slipping back into the routine that had once so unthinkingly ordered his life. And apparently his body agrees, because he's been getting up at dawn most days, even when he doesn't have morning exercises.</p>
<p>It makes for a different pace to his days. The mess hall will be quiet, only just preparing for breakfast at this hour. So Bodhi picks up a datapad, slips back into bed, and starts a letter to Luke. Monsoon Echo's gotten some engine upgrades and Luke might want to know.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Nearly eight months after he set out, Luke reaches the south edge of the Dua Flats. He can see the mesa of NiJedha and its lights rising in the distance. The sight fills him with a buoyant, impatient joy. Luke’s almost home. He can already hear the call of the kyber, a kind of ambient murmur, like the moment before the monsoon’s downpour.</p>
<p>He makes good time, wanting to get as close to the city as he can in the day, but he has to settle for camping one more night, just beyond the city limits. Any other day, he’d press on and catch the tram and the elevator home. But that’s not an option on his First Journey. Luke can’t just slink into the New City and hop on mass transit. He has to return by the traditional route and it’s too dangerous to attempt the carved steps up to the Old City by night.</p>
<p>Luke sleeps deeply, bundled in his sleeping bag. But he rises early, early, early, to pack his things and look up and up. Ananda’s Stairs unfold just before him The sandstone is worn and patched from the thousands of years of pilgrims who have come before him.</p>
<p>The sky is still a pre-morning deep blue as Luke takes his first step up the Stairs. He would have liked to step onto the top of the mesa just as the sun rises, so he could breathe in NiJedha at dawn. It’s his favorite time of day, when the city is only half dressed in its brightness, cloaked in the quiet of the day's first prayers.</p>
<p>But of course it’s too far to manage in such a short time, so he says dawn prayers about a quarter of the way up. He can feel the nearness of so many who live in the city doing the same. He revels in it. He continues his climb.</p>
<p>Taking the final step onto the mesa, Luke feels almost breathless. The solid immensity of the Temple is right up ahead of him, and the gates are thrown open, a lone Guardian standing there waiting.</p>
<p>“Welcome home, little brother,” Chirrut says.</p>
<hr/>
<p>It’s a busy few months for Bodhi, with the Fleet making him feel every bit of the extra responsibility that comes with being a lieutenant, piling on the datawork and Academy obligations that the promotion demands.</p>
<p>And that’s before Intel co-opts him for a run of missions into Imperial territory.</p>
<p>“You have an honest face, but you’re a decent liar,” Cassian had said, when Bodhi wondered aloud how undercover missions had become such a regular part of his rotations. “And you’re good at improvising ways of confusing people.”</p>
<p>Bodhi’s still not sure how he feels about assessment, although Cassian probably meant it as a compliment.</p>
<p>At the time, Bodhi had only asked, feeling a little put-out, “You couldn’t’ve just said something like, because you’re an amazing pilot, Bodhi?”</p>
<p>Cassian had smiled and snorted and gone back to loading up weaponry.</p>
<p>In any case, after everything, Bodhi feels like he’s more than earned his upcoming leave. As much as he enjoys being maybe the one pilot Cassian, Jyn, and Kaytoo genuinely like rather than merely tolerate, their sense of what constitutes a smooth mission is a whole spectrum away from most of the Fleet’s. Bodhi’s looking forward to being home, catching the monsoon as it’s fading. Eating his parents’ cooking and sitting shoulder to shoulder with his sisters, listening to <em>qawwals</em> sing in the Temple courtyard and whisper-singing his own renditions later as lullabies for his niece. His muscles start to unwind just thinking about it</p>
<p>“Headed out, then?” Jyn asks, appearing at his shoulder out of nowhere, which is always her preferred method of turning up anywhere. She’d probably scared years off his life before he finally trained himself to get used to it.</p>
<p>“I am,” Bodhi says, rocking back on his heels in satisfaction. “Finally getting some time away from you lot.” He elbows Jyn in the arm.</p>
<p>She rolls her eyes but still says, “Good. You ought’ve gotten a break after that trip to Imperial Center.”</p>
<p>“<em>Everyone</em> should get a break after having to go to Imperial Center,” Bodhi replies.</p>
<p>Jyn smiles wryly and only says, “I’ll be sure to mention that to Draven. See if it gets me a vacation.”</p>
<p>Bodhi grimaces and offers, “I’ll send lots of pictures?”</p>
<p>“And rub it in?” Jyn asks, crossing her arms.</p>
<p>“Always,” Bodhi agrees, with a grin.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Luke is nineteen and he is finally a Guardian of the Whills, as he’s longed to be since the very first time he walked into the Temple. Luke is nineteen and he is waiting. He’s been having strange dreams lately, ones that taste like possibilities.</p>
<p>Chirrut says that sometimes the Force grants people a sense of what might be, what could be. Though what will actually happen is always decided, ultimately, by a hundred interconnected actions, a thousand sets of circumstances that arise together. People’s own will, and the way everything influences and is influenced by each other — the wind, the weather, a solar flare.</p>
<p>Something is coming, or someone. The line between dread and anticipation is so thin.</p>
<p>Luke teaches the youngest class of novices staff-fighting, the way Lian first taught him; he rides the tram to the Central University with Shabana, attending his lectures on art history and going to the hydrology lab; he walks the walls of the Temple’s courtyard on patrol, keeping his eyes and Force sense sharp.</p>
<p>And all the while, beneath it, Luke is waiting. It is the same roiling feeling he remembers from his childhood, the same strange, prickling anticipation he still sometimes gets before sandstorms — the sense of some great alteration on the horizon, which he can neither stop nor start, only watch for.</p>
<p>It’s getting toward the end of monsoon season when his comm lights up with a message: <em>Hey stranger, I’m home in two days. Want to meet at the Fleet base when I get in? </em></p>
<p>It's been more than a year since Luke last saw Bodhi in person, which is the longest they've gone without seeing each other since Luke and his family first came to Jedha. They've kept up writing letters sporadically since Luke got back to the city. It's been lovely to curl up in the window seat in his room (only four people to a room now, the advantages of being a full-fledged Guardian) and read Bodhi's letters.</p>
<p>But the prospect of seeing him is infinitely more exciting.</p>
<p><em>Yes, of course! </em>Luke sends back immediately. <em>Tell me which landing bay. I'll be there. </em></p>
<p>For once, his sense of anxious anticipation eases. Whatever it is the Force has in store for him, Luke can wait. Right now, he has a reunion to look forward to.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bodhi brings Monsoon Echo down in the spot held for it at the small Fleet training base just beyond the New City gates. It hasn't actually been that many months since Bodhi was last home. But he's eager to see his family, to hear Tarika's baby laugh for himself, and to wash away the mental griminess that lingers from the back-to-back trips into Imperial space.</p>
<p>When Bodhi brings down the boarding ramp, there’s a figure waiting for him, leant up against a pylon, wearing the dark robes and blood red over-skirt of a Guardian. The man’s blond head looks up at the sound of the boarding ramp touching the ground. And for a split second, Bodhi has the disconcerting feeling that he is looking at an absolute stranger. Someone he’d bow his head to out of long-ingrained instinct when they passed on the street, someone he’d offer sweets or flowers on festival days for the good fortune it would bring. Someone respected and deeply enmeshed into Bodhi’s world, but a stranger nevertheless.</p>
<p>Only then Luke grins, pushes off the pylon, and exclaims, “You’re here!” And he’s the boy Bodhi’s known for almost half his life, again.</p>
<p>“The hair’s back!” Bodhi starts down the ramp with a laugh, feeling a rush of relief. “Look at that!”</p>
<p>Luke raises a hand and touches his hair almost sheepishly. “Yeah, I thought I’d grow it back since I could.”</p>
<p>“I like it,” Bodhi decides, stopping just short of Luke for a moment, to take in the changes.</p>
<p>But Luke doesn’t leave him time, folding him into a tight hug, saying, “I’m glad you’re home. I missed you.”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Bodhi mumbles back, squeezing Luke a little tighter, because it feels right and comforting, to come home and find Luke right here in their city. “I missed you, too.”</p>
<p>But then Luke stiffens.</p>
<p>“Did someone come with you?” he asks, drawing abruptly out of their hug, and squinting at Monsoon Echo in a strange, discerning way that makes his face unfamiliar once more.</p>
<p>“No,” Bodhi says, beginning to get alarmed, trying not to spiral into thoughts of Imperial spies. The last time he was over the border was more than two standard weeks ago, but that’s no guarantee of safety. “Why?”</p>
<p>Luke takes a half step forward, putting himself between Bodhi and his own ship, feet planted like he’s planning on shielding Bodhi from whatever danger is coming, with just his own, equally breakable body. And the Force. Hopefully that, too.</p>
<p>Bodhi is not doing a good job not spiraling. “Luke, if there’s someone there, we need to —” he begins, reaching out for Luke’s shoulder.</p>
<p>Then the landing ramp descends again. A young woman, dressed all in white, is framed in the middle.</p>
<p>Bodhi’s stomach sinks. He’s in so much trouble.</p>
<p>Because coming down the ramp of his ship is Leia Organa, Crown Princess of Alderaan, junior diplomatic negotiator for the Commonwealth of Democratic Star Systems. She’s got a political resume as long as she is tall and she’s definitely, definitely not supposed to be here. Or anywhere without a security detail, probably.</p>
<p>“Well,” the princess says. “This was a lot easier than I thought it would be. You’re Luke Skywalker?”</p>
<p>“Um, yeah,” Luke says, his eyebrows drawn together, head tilted. “Can I . . . help you?”</p>
<hr/>
<p>The woman walking down the ramp of Bodhi’s ship feels . . . familiar, in a way that raises the hair at the back of Luke’s neck.</p>
<p>“Yes,” the woman says. “I’m Leia Organa, and I’m your twin sister.”</p>
<p>Luke blinks. “What?” he asks, for lack of any better response. His brain is entirely blank with incomprehension.</p>
<p>“Trust me, I felt the same way,” Leia Organa says.</p>
<p>His whole life, Luke has known that he’s an orphan. The last and only person to carry his grandmother’s name and blood. How can he have a sister?</p>
<p>“Luke,” Bodhi mutters. “That’s. That’s the princess. Of Alderaan. And she was definitely not supposed to be on my ship.”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry for the subterfuge, Lieutenant,” the princess says, though she doesn’t sound at all apologetic. “I’m afraid I had to take matters into my own hands on this one.”</p>
<p>“Leia Organa,” Luke repeats, slowly. He’s heard of her, now that he thinks about it. Seen her name in the news, at least, about the arts and artifacts repatriation efforts the Empire has finally acceded to. She’s some kind of diplomat, Luke thinks, though that’s a bit hard to imagine at the moment.</p>
<p>She looks defiant. She <em>is </em>defiant.</p>
<p>Luke has gotten impressions of other people’s feelings for almost as long as he can remember, but right now, with this princess, there’s a rare vibrancy. As if her mind is only just beyond the porous boundaries of his own.</p>
<p>“Stop doing that,” she says, gritting her teeth. Suddenly, her emotions are dulled and smoothed out like they’re hidden behind some translucent wall.</p>
<p>“I didn’t mean to,” Luke says, stepping back from the abrupt coolness. It feels unnatural. “You’re just very . . . distinct.” And oddly familiar, like a childhood lullaby gone unthought of for years, until called up whole and entire from his unconscious mind by the melody.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry, but what is happening right now?” Bodhi asks, looking back and forth between them, a sharp edge of hysteria in his voice.</p>
<p>“Funny that you two know each other. I just found the first ship bound for Jedha."</p>
<p>“The Force must have sent you," Luke says, almost automatically. It is the easiest, clearest answer.</p>
<p>The princess studies him, with her wide brown eyes. They’re familiar, too, somehow. “We have a lot to talk about, you and I.”</p>
<p>It’s true. Luke knows it is. He knows in the same way he knew at nine that he had to go to the Temple, with the same certainty and wonder he felt alone in the desert on his First Journey, the vast expanse more than his heart could hold.</p>
<p>This isn’t how he imagined today going. He had pictured drinking chai and sitting with Bodhi on the Rook’s courtyard wall, legs dangling.</p>
<p>But the Force has spoken, has presented him with an undeniable sign. He’s been waiting and now the moment is here.</p>
<p>He has a <em>sister</em>.</p>
<p>“I can take you to the Temple,” Luke says. “We can talk there.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>As they all cross into the New City’s gates, Bodhi lags behind a moment. Once Luke and Princess Leia have turned the next corner, Bodhi scrambles to pull out his comm and punches in the code for Commander Walun.</p>
<p>Because nothing can ever be easy, it’s not Walun who picks up but her aide, Bina. She stops what would probably be her usual greeting to frown and say, “Aren’t you on leave?”</p>
<p>“Yes!” Bodhi cries. “Except the princess of Alderaan stowed away on my ship and now she’s here! On Jedha! I need Walun to tell me what to do.”</p>
<p>Even in the shaky hologram, it’s very clear when Bina’s eyes go round. “Oh, shit,” she says. “There’s been an alert going for the past day and half for her.”</p>
<p>“Bina!” Bodhi says, pulling down a cheek with one hand, because somehow it feels like the pressure will help or at least express Bodhi’s roiling anxiety. “Not helpful! Just get me Walun.”</p>
<p>Bina’s mouth is still dropped open slightly but she nods. “Yeah, uh, gimme a sec,” she says, punching something and then her image disappears. Agonizingly long moments later, Walun pops up in holographic form.</p>
<p>“You didn’t spot a princess on your ship?” she barks.</p>
<p>“It turns out she’s very sneaky! And why would I even think that was something that might happen?” Bodhi protests. “I did my usual checks. The cargo holds were empty. I was only packed to go home!”</p>
<p>“Rook! Do you at least have eyes on her now?” Walun asks, arms folded forbiddingly together.</p>
<p>“Ye-es?” Bodhi offers, darting up the alley so it’s true. Luke and Leia’s backs are visible up the stairs. They’re headed towards the Thalen Gate Elevator to the Old City. “She’s with my friend, I know where they’re headed. I just don’t know what to <em>do </em>with her.”</p>
<p>“Start by not letting her run away again!” Walun orders. She sets her mouth in a flat, stern expression. Which admittedly isn’t a significant departure from her usual expression, except for being somehow much worse. “Then we’ll figure out you bringing her back. Let me get the palace on Alderaan on the line, then I’ll get you new orders.”</p>
<p>“I have to bring her back to Alderaan?” Bodhi asks, pausing a moment in his pursuit of Luke and Leia.</p>
<p>He’s well aware it could be far worse, but this is really not what he wanted to hear. He’s been on Jedha less than a standard hour, and hasn’t even seen his mother or his baby niece yet. Amma is not going to have a high opinion of the Fleet co-opting him back, diplomatic disaster in the making or no.</p>
<p>“Would you prefer I charge you with negligence?” Walun asks.</p>
<p>“No, sir,” Bodhi says, meekly. “Thank you for not doing that, sir.”</p>
<p>Walun almost harrumphs. She probably would if she didn’t have such a strong sense of personal dignity and elegance.</p>
<p>“I’ll see what her highness and the Viceroy advise doing with their wayward progeny. And,” she pinches the bridge of her nose, “I suppose I had better call the Minister of Diplomacy directly as well. Keep your comm handy. And try not to do anything else headache-inducing until then.”</p>
<p>“Yes, sir,” Bodhi says. When Walun’s image flickers and disappears, Bodhi runs to slide into the doors of the shutting elevator, despite the dirty look the operator gives him.</p>
<p>He manages to sidle over to where Luke and the princess are standing, off to one side, looking out the wide viewport.</p>
<p>“Uh, hi,” Bodhi says. “Again.”</p>
<p>Luke smiles weakly and the princess raises her eyebrows.</p>
<p>“Just, um, do you . . . by chance know how long you’re planning to stay on Jedha?” Bodhi asks. “Your highness.”</p>
<p>The princess smirks, then says, “Don’t worry, I already found the person I came here for. I won’t disappear again. You can tell the Fleet and the Ministry of Diplomacy I’ll even go meet my retinue on Cloud City and proceed with my assignment without any further disruption,” she pauses and leans in, and says in a lower voice, “<em>if</em> they agree to one simple request.”</p>
<p>Bodhi swallows. Usually when it comes to negotiating with powerful, charismatic people, he’s a background figure, there to help whoever’s representing the Commonwealth get themselves out as quickly as possible, if the situation implodes.</p>
<p>“I . . . could pass that along?” Bodhi finally manages. He sets his shoulders and asks, “What’s the request?”</p>
<p>The princess smiles now, her eyebrows uncurling in amusement. “I do appreciate how helpful you’ve been and how courteous you’re being now, Lieutenant Rook. But I’d actually like to speak directly with General Draven and Minister Vai-e-Ming about that.”</p>
<p>“Oh,” Bodhi says. That can’t be good, having a request of the Commonwealth’s spymaster and minister of diplomacy.</p>
<p>The elevator slides to a stop, opening up on the familiar sight of Danesh Nagar, with its booksellers and coffee shops.</p>
<p>“So,” Princess Leia says, turning to Luke. “The Temple? I understand it’s the jewel of the moon. My mother has spoken of it.”</p>
<p>Luke nods, his eyes distant. “I met her, once,” he says, sounding barely present. “She was very kind.”</p>
<p>“Yes,” the princess agrees. “Of course, she didn’t share with me that she’d met you at the time.”</p>
<p>Bodhi has many, many questions.</p>
<p>But Luke only blinks, disconcertingly. Then he turns to Bodhi and says, “I think maybe you should go see your parents. I have a feeling this visit's going to be shorter than you planned."</p>
<p>Leia’s smile grows sharper and more dangerous.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Bodhi agrees, his stomach sinking. “Me too.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>“That’s the Temple,” Luke says, nodding to the main spire, visible even from here, right at the edge of the Old City.</p>
<p>“It’s lovely,” the princess — Leia, maybe he ought to think of her as Leia — says.</p>
<p>“It is,” Luke agrees, taking in the view for a moment, seeing it for a moment the way he did when he had only just arrived on Jedha.</p>
<p>Luke hesitates when they reach the Danesh Nagar tram station. Do princesses take mass transit? But Leia simply follows him serenely onto the tram, cramming in with the rest of the passengers without displaying any evident discomfort.</p>
<p>It’s easier to see how she’s a diplomat, on that ride. She asks about becoming a Guardian, about his training, about where in the city he grew up, demonstrating a greater familiarity with Jedha and its history than Luke might have guessed. It makes him realize he doesn’t actually know much about Alderaan, beyond the things any Commonwealth kid would learn or pick up. He doesn’t even quite know where to start asking questions.</p>
<p>When they reach the Temple, Luke walks her through an abbreviated, idiosyncratic tour that is as much about learning about each other as it is about the Temple. He keeps taking sidelong glances at Leia. He wonders if she looks like his — <em>their</em> — mother. Luke’s been told since he was young that he looks like his father, but Leia hardly looks like him at all.</p>
<p>Somewhere beneath her interest and her admiration for the carvings on the Temple’s inner courtyard walls, she is cradling some further secret to share. Luke can sense it — the holding back, the way it itches. He can’t imagine what it is, when she’s already re-written his life. Luke wants to hold on his grasp on his world as well as he can for just a little longer, so he walks her through the living quarters at the back of the Temple, waving to Lian, who tips her head quizzically but leaves them alone, and Asu-Di, who smiles absently and immediately returns to xer datapad.</p>
<p>Finally, when he cannot delay the moment any longer, Luke leads Leia into his favorite greenhouse, the one with the fruit trees.</p>
<p>The moment he closes the door and turns around, Leia folds her hands behind her back in a military posture. She says, “Darth Vader is our biological father.”</p>
<p>“What?” Luke asks, taking an instinctive step back, pressing up against the greenhouse door. The thought is absurd. His father was Shmi Skywalker’s beloved son: a freed slave, a pilot, dead. “No. My father’s name was Anakin.”</p>
<p>“They’re the same person,” Leia says.</p>
<p>“No,” Luke says again, slower, his mind whirling. The Force is telling him it’s true. But everything he knows about himself, about his family, about their homestead back on Tatooine, tells him this is ridiculous, a terrible and strange falsehood.</p>
<p>Leia looks at him with sympathetic eyes, one soft, pale hand reaching out for his shoulder. Luke allows it, rooted to the spot he’s standing in, because everything feels too fast, dizzying.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry,” she says. “It’s true. I think you can tell that, too.”</p>
<p>“That doesn’t make any sense,” Luke says, pressing his hands back against the cool glass of the door, using the sensation to ground himself.</p>
<p>“No,” Leia agrees, her mouth set in a hard line. “It doesn’t.” She scuffs a boot into the ground and asks, “What did you get told about him?”</p>
<p>Luke swallows. “He was a slave. He and my — our grandmother. But someone won his freedom when he was a kid. He was a racing pilot? Uncle Owen was never that clear on the details.” Luke feels oddly numb, recounting the scraps of story that meant so much to him for so long. “But he was a pilot. He got off-planet.” Luke swallows. “He loved his mother a lot. He married an offworlder.”</p>
<p>Leia grimaces slightly as Luke ends his small litany of what he had believed to be facts.</p>
<p>“Some of that’s right,” Leia says. “Maybe most of it. I guess no one knows much about his life on Tatooine.” She presses a hand to the side of her hip as if searching for something and then goes on, “But the man who got him freed was a Jedi. Darth Vader was a Jedi, too, before. A Republic <em>general</em>,” she scoffs. “During the Clone Wars. I looked him up. They called him the Hero with No Fear.”</p>
<p>“A Jedi?” Luke repeats, feeling like he’s lagging behind Leia, still playing catch up while she barrels ahead.</p>
<p>In his mind’s eye, he is standing in front of the enormous stone Jedi who guard the Vaikaasi Caves. That Darth Vader could have been one of them and then cut them down; that the same blood runs in Luke's veins — it makes his stomach churn and acid rise to the back of his throat.</p>
<p>“How do you know all of this?” Luke asks.</p>
<p>“My mother and father told me a few days ago, because I was due to go to Naboo. I <em>am </em>due to go to Naboo,” she corrects, “to negotiate some artifact repatriation, under the new art and antiquities agreement.”</p>
<p>Luke tilts his head, lost as to what that has to do with Darth Vader. Still, like all the other Guardians, he’s been following the news about the repatriations. The Imps had spirited off whole chunks of Jedhan sacred art during the occupation and the Struggle.</p>
<p>Leia looks sideways, into the leaves of a mango tree, saying softly, “Sabé, the woman who was in charge of my security detail when I was a child, she was from Naboo. She was very kind. She used to sing to me.” Leia shakes her head slightly, like she’s clearing cobwebs and continues, “When I was little, I had this secret dream that she was my mother. My biological mother, that is. We even looked alike.”</p>
<p>Luke pushes off the glass door, stepping closer before he’s even really conscious of it.</p>
<p>Leia looks at him, eyes sad. “She isn’t our mother,” Leia says, quietly. “But she did know her. My parents told me about you, and Vader, and our mother, because I was going to visit Sabé and they thought she might tell me. She was there, apparently. When our mother met Vader for the first time, when he was a child.” Leia shakes his head, as if to dispel the image of Vader ever having been a child.</p>
<p>Then, with a faint, proud smile Leia says, “Our mother was Padmé Amidala.”</p>
<p>Luke blinks. Everyone in the Commonwealth knows that name. The senator from Naboo, the heart of the Alliance that became the Commonwealth, who died young.</p>
<p>“My aunt and uncle said my mother’s name was Padmé,” he murmurs. “I never thought —”</p>
<p>But why would he have even considered the possibility that his mysterious mother Padmé was the Padmé whose portrait is displayed in so many Commonwealth government buildings, the Padmé whom the Commonwealth’s greatest leaders still mourn?</p>
<p>Leia smiles softly, a hint of wistfulness wafting like perfume beneath it. “Hard to believe, isn’t it?”</p>
<p>“I thought her baby died with her,” Luke says, slowly, the story resurfacing in his mind. The war, the difficulty finding medical assistance, the cultural emphasis on appearances and secrecy on Naboo.</p>
<p>“Well,” Leia says, gesturing between them. “Apparently not.” She places a hand on an outstretched branch of the mango tree she’s standing by and says, “I wanted to lead the Naboo repatriation talks so I could see Sabé. I didn’t know as a child, but she was one of Padmé Amidala’s handmaidens when Padmé was Queen of Naboo. They were close their whole lives. It’s why Sabé came to Alderaan, to watch over me. She went back to Naboo though, to help with the Resistance there, when I was only eight or so. She thought Vader outlawing slavery was a sign. That things might be changing.”</p>
<p>Leia’s mouth takes on a bitter twist, and so does Luke’s sense of her in the Force — a metallic tinge in the back of Luke’s throat.</p>
<p>Freeing the slaves — it makes a perverse sense, now, Luke thinks. It’s what he would have done first, if he had come into the power and the resources Emperor Vader has.</p>
<p>But then, his mind catches on the other details of Leia’s story, of how Vader’s declaration changed her life too, left her . . . unguarded.</p>
<p>Luke swallows, tries to let the rising anger in his chest diffuse out. But he can’t manage to hide the bite when he asks, “Are <em>you</em> a Jedi? Did Ben train you?”</p>
<p>It would all make sense — Leia’s undeniably strong in the Force, shining with raw power like a thousand kyber crystals singing together. But she’s controlled in ways that Luke’s unfamiliar with, quiet and disciplined and almost severe. Altogether different than the Force Sensitive Guardians who have taught Luke, who tell him to be like wind, like water, infinitely adaptable and ever-present.</p>
<p>Leia feels cool, contained, metallic, like the guarded hull of a sleek ship. Like Ben always felt, when Luke was a child.</p>
<p>Ben, who knew things about the Force and the dangers of the Empire and always spoke with such urgency. Ben, whom he and Owen and Beru have not seen since that day he waved them off Tatooine.</p>
<p>Leia steps closer, reaching out a hand. She feels — softly sympathetic, like a warm shawl and an outheld cup of hot chocolate on a cold morning. That’s the only reason Luke doesn’t flinch away.</p>
<p>“Yes,” she says, looking at him with her large brown eyes — their mother’s, or their grandmother’s, maybe. “My parents asked him to come, after Sabé left. I suppose . . .” she sighs softly. “I suppose they thought since I would be in the public eye, I would be in more danger. They weren’t looking for a teacher so much as a protector, someone who knew who I was. But I was so curious. And he missed teaching, I think,” she trails off. “Ben didn’t come until he knew your family was safely settled here. You should know that.” She grimaces again. “I’m not feeling terribly sympathetic to him at the moment, but you should know.”</p>
<p>Luke presses his fisted hands against his thighs.</p>
<p>“He trained Vader, before . . . well. Everything.” Leia shrugs. “His real name is Obi-Wan Kenobi. He fought in the Clone Wars, too. That’s how my parents met him.”</p>
<p>Luke’s not all that sure he cares about that. Except that it means Ben knew. And Owen and Beru must, too. Because when Vader came, they left.</p>
<p>Luke has been lied to his whole life by the people he loves most in the galaxy.</p>
<p>“I need to go,” Luke says. He blinks, overly aware of the movement. Suddenly the warm humidity of the greenhouse is choking.</p>
<p>“Wait!” Leia says, stepping forward quickly and reaching for his hand. “Come to Naboo with me. Meet Sabé. She can tell us about our mother.”</p>
<p>“Go to <em>Naboo</em>?” Luke echoes, almost feeling the spiky, hysterical laughter that wants to surface. “I can’t go to Naboo. I have to go to university, and teach my staff-fighting class. And the Return’s in four standard weeks!”</p>
<p>“This won’t take that long. I’m supposed to be in Cloud City in five days and head to Naboo from there. We can still make it in time if we leave tomorrow, or maybe the day after,” Leia says. She squeezes his hand.</p>
<p>It feels like the only part of Luke that’s real.</p>
<p>“Please,” Leia says. “Let’s get some answers. Come with me.”</p>
<p>Luke looks down at their joined hands, and for a moment he wants to say yes. But there are answers he needs right here, on Jedha. The answers he needs most.</p>
<p>“I gotta.” Luke shakes his head. “I gotta go home. I’m sorry,” he mumbles, backing up, pushing the greenhouse door open. His limbs are jittery with shock and the anticipation of hearing Owen and Beru confirm what his heart knows is the truth, but that his mind cannot accept. “You can talk to Lian, she’ll . . . she’ll find you somewhere to sleep.”</p>
<p>“Luke!” Leia’s voice follows him, before the door closing cuts her off.</p>
<p>Luke crosses the courtyard of the Guardian’s courtyard, picking up speed, until he’s running, out past the walls of the Temple, into the streets of the Old City.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Bodhi jiggles his leg under the table.</p>
<p>Abbu raises his eyebrows.</p>
<p>“Sorry,” Bodhi mumbles, not for the first time today. Not for the first time this past standard hour.</p>
<p>“There is nothing you can do right now,” Abbu says. “Drink your chai.”</p>
<p>That’s exactly what’s making him anxious though. Luke and the princess he may or may not be <em>related to </em>are off somewhere in the City and Bodhi’s sitting at home, waiting for orders, and for the galaxy to start making some kind of sense again.</p>
<p>Walun does call, just before dinner, and Bodhi has to scramble to transfer Tarika into Arvind’s arms without waking her while his comm shrieks. It is, to say the least, a challenge. Bodhi thinks he should be commended for that mission’s relative success.</p>
<p>But Walun’s irritated update is singularly unhelpful, informing Bodhi only that, “Well, Intel apparently has something to do with the diplomatic mission the princess was scheduled to leave on, which I’m sure the Empire will love if they figure it out. So currently your orders are to wait.” Walun’s tone is dry and tired. “This is why I don’t advise getting tangled in cross-department activities,” she adds, as if Bodhi chose to get involved with this situation.</p>
<p>Bodhi decides not to protest, however. It seems more politic, especially since he currently doesn’t have eyes on the princess at the center of the whole issue. Somehow Bodhi feels like Walun would not be impressed by Bodhi’s conviction that Luke wouldn’t just lose Leia Organa, no matter how slippery she’s turned out to be.</p>
<p>Dinner is long and crowded, featuring Bodhi’s sisters and their spouses, and Hashim Uncle, and Bodhi’s cousin Shabana and her mum all talking over one another, while Abbu and Amma urge Bodhi to eat more.</p>
<p>It’s only because Bodhi’s on high alert that he registers the commotion coming from next door — indistinct but raised voices from across the alley they share with the Larses. Shabana frowns too, and they meet gazes. Then there’s the sound of pounding steps and Beru’s voice calling, “Luke, wait!”</p>
<p>Shabana clears her throat, but Bodhi jumps in. “Let me go check on Luke,” he says.</p>
<p>Shabana’s probably better equipped to deal with whatever might be happening — she and Luke have been attached at the hip since they were kids — but Bodhi’s pretty sure he’s got a better idea of what Luke might be upset about.</p>
<p>Amma frowns but waves him off.</p>
<p>It takes a little searching, but Bodhi finally spots Luke, curled up on a bench in the small plaza a couple staircases away from their home, in front of the neighborhood shrine. His shoulders are hunched and his legs are drawn up, hugged to his chest. It’s an incongruous match with his Guardian’s robes.</p>
<p>Bodhi chews on his lip for a moment. The Academy never covered how to comfort a friend who’s just learned he (possibly) has a long-lost sister no one bothered to mention. Right now that seems like an oversight.</p>
<p>But then Bodhi remembers the snack stand that’s thankfully still there. Armed with two mugs of hot chocolate, Bodhi squares his shoulders and walks over to the bench.</p>
<p>“Hey,” Bodhi says and holds out one of the disposable clay mugs. “Drink this.”</p>
<p>Luke looks up, looking momentarily startled, curling his head back and blinking up at Bodhi with wide eyes.</p>
<p>He looks like he’s been crying, which makes Bodhi’s chest clench.</p>
<p>Luke looks down and clears his throat, dropping his feet to the ground and sitting up. “Not really in the mood,” he says. His voice sounds hoarse.</p>
<p>“You’re always in the mood for hot chocolate,” Bodhi says, coaxing.</p>
<p>Luke looks up at him, offering an expression that might be some painful attempt at a smile. It looks far more like a grimace. Bodhi sighs, puts down both mugs and sits next to him.</p>
<p>“Thanks for trying,” Luke says. Then he shakes his head. “How’d you find me?” he asks.</p>
<p>Bodhi shrugs. “You’re kind of recognizable, with the robes,” he points out. “I just asked Prabhu from the chai stand if he saw which way you went.”</p>
<p>Luke blows breath out of his nose.</p>
<p>“So is it true?” Bodhi asks, quietly. “Is Princess Leia really your sister?”</p>
<p>“Yes,” Luke says, heavily.</p>
<p>Bodhi nods, worrying his lip between his teeth again. “Did, um —” he starts, not even sure how he’s going to finish. He’d love to display those improvisational skills Cassian assures him he has just now, but apparently real emotions are harder than confusing Imperial checkpoint officers off the cuff.</p>
<p>“Owen and Beru knew,” Luke says, tone flat and tired. “Basically from the beginning.” He turns, finally, to look at Bodhi. His face is pale and faintly ghostly in the lamp light. “But that’s not the worst part.”</p>
<p>Bodhi’s stomach drops. How does this story get worse? Luke’s gaze darts away again, fixed on the ground.</p>
<p>Then he whispers, “Darth Vader is my father. He was a Jedi, and then he became Vader, and he’s my father.”</p>
<p>Bodhi blinks, straining to re-hear and decipher the correct message. Because surely what he heard is utter gibberish. But Luke’s gone silent, shoulders tensed.</p>
<p>“What?” Bodhi finally says.</p>
<p>Luke looks up at him and nods. Bodhi’s stomach turns over..</p>
<p>“Do you . . .” Bodhi scratches his fingers along his thigh. “You’re sure that’s . . . um, that’s true?”</p>
<p>Luke nods again. “I didn’t want to believe Leia when she told me,” he says, still barely audible, still hoarse. “But it <em>felt </em>true. And then I went to ask Owen and Beru. And they said so, too.” Bodhi can see his throat work, like maybe he’s forcing down tears.</p>
<p>Bodhi takes a shocked breath in. Suddenly the plaza has taken on a surreality beyond that of evening, like a picture shaken out of place and put back askew. His mind tumbles over itself, thinking of Vader, who they say is a dark specter who comes to haunt the battlefields of the Outer Rim himself. Thinking of Luke standing up in the Temple courtyard during his initiation ceremony, his face almost glowing with conviction, like in the paintings of the Wandering Ones.</p>
<p>And then he thinks of Jyn, who knows the same Jedhan desert caves Luke does, for altogether different reasons, and who for all her defiantly rough edges believes utterly in the hope of tomorrow. He thinks of her father, who worked for the Empire willingly until they set him to constructing a superweapon of unimaginable, soul-shattering power, a superweapon that never came to be but that still seems to have destroyed some part of him.</p>
<p>“That doesn’t . . . it doesn’t have to mean anything,” Bodhi finally offers. That’s completely inadequate to express what he’s trying to say. “You’re still <em>you</em>. Every family has secrets.”</p>
<p>“Not secrets like your father is a mass murderer!” Luke cries out, jumping up off the bench and gesticulating wildly.</p>
<p>Bodhi looks up at him, worrying his lip between his teeth. Luke’s pacing, almost thrumming with some kind of frantic energy, and Bodhi wishes he could find some way of soothing him.</p>
<p>“How is this not terrifying you?” Luke demands.</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” Bodhi says, feeling lost. “But I look at you, I don’t see Darth Vader. That’s . . .” he shrugs and tosses his arms out, discomfort crawling down the back of his neck. “It’s not possible. I mean, you feed street loth cats.”</p>
<p>Luke scrubs at his eyes with the palms of his hands. “I feel like I don’t even know who I am anymore,” he says, face still covered.</p>
<p>Bodhi promised his mother years ago that he’d look out for Luke. Because promises are important, he’s always kept his word. And maybe right now what Luke most needs protecting from are the catastrophic loops his own mind is sending him off in.</p>
<p>So Bodhi gets up and crosses the distance between them, putting his hands on Luke’s shoulders — he’s maybe ever-so-slightly taller than Bodhi these days, at least in his boots; it throws Bodhi off for a split second — and says, “That’s okay. ‘Cause I know you. And it doesn’t matter what your dad did, or who he is, because you’re nothing like that.”</p>
<p>Luke lets out a heavy, gusty sigh, and slumps in towards Bodhi. He clearly needs a hug, and badly. So Bodhi wraps his arms tightly around him.</p>
<p>Finally, what feels like an amorphously long time later, Luke mutters, “Oh no, <em>Leia</em>,” into Bodhi’s shoulder, pulling away and grimacing.</p>
<p>Bodhi’s stomach falls. “You didn’t . . . lose her?”</p>
<p>Luke shakes his head. “I left her at the Temple, she should be fine, but I just, uh, took off kind of abruptly,” he says, scratching at the back of his neck.</p>
<p>“You don’t think she left, do you?” Bodhi asks, his anxiety rather far from appeased still.</p>
<p>Luke shakes his head immediately. “No, definitely not. She wanted me to come to Naboo with her. I don’t think she’d leave without at least trying again.”</p>
<p>Bodhi blinks and has to play that back in his mind. Once he has, it makes even less sense than before. “<em>Naboo</em>?” he echoes.</p>
<p>Since the Rebel-turned-Commonwealth planets began their self-extraction from the Empire, visiting Naboo has been impossible, mostly. Unless people were willing to be executed if they were found. Naboo, for all that it supposedly harbors quite the internal opposition to the Empire, is also still the Empire’s beating heart. Its birthplace, its highest symbol. Vader seems to hold Palpatine’s home planet in even greater and more sentimental reverence than the Emperor ever did himself.</p>
<p>There’s been Commonwealth diplomatic missions there in the past few years, Bodhi knows. The pilots who flew the delegations have all been hard-nosed, stalwart people who approached their assignments as an undertaking akin to building new hyperspace lanes — the danger and the significance of the work inextricably linked to one another.</p>
<p>Even with the slight thaw in relations though, Naboo’s exactly the kind of place a Force-Sensitive Guardian of the Whills should never go.</p>
<p>“Why does she want you to go to Naboo with her?” Bodhi demands. “If she wants to get to know you, she can just hang around here.”</p>
<p>Luke’s face takes on an odd, contemplative expression and then he says, “Our mother was Padmé Amidala. Leia wants us to go so we can meet an old friend of hers.”</p>
<p>Bodhi gapes. Tries to conjure up the solemn portraits of Padmé Amidala he’s seen and searches for any repeating features in Luke’s familiar face. But of course his mind keeps circling back to, “Darth Vader and Padmé Amidala —”</p>
<p>“Had kids together?” Luke says, shrugging helplessly. “Apparently. Leia made it sound like maybe she’d known Vader from when he was a kid?”</p>
<p>“That is so <em>weird</em>,” Bodhi says, unable to stop himself.</p>
<p>Luke sits back down on the bench heavily. “Yeah,” he says. “You’re telling me.” He shakes his head, grabs one of the cups of hot chocolate and takes a sip, before grimacing. “It’s cold now,” he says, so sadly it almost makes Bodhi want to laugh, after everything.</p>
<p>“We’ll get more,” Bodhi says. “Least we deserve.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>Leia’s at still at the Temple when Luke gets back, having apparently befriended half of younger Guardians and charmed all the elders.</p>
<p>It’s late for anyone not on night patrol to be up, but he finds Leia at the center of a small group, gesticulating and telling a story.</p>
<p>“She is very clever,” Baze says, both of them lingering just beyond the edges of the gathering.</p>
<p>Leia knows he’s there — Luke feels <em>words </em>entering his head, in her voice. A question. But he can’t concentrate on the meaning because it’s dizzying, hearing a voice inside his head that isn’t his own, that doesn’t come from within him. He flinches back and feels her retreat. It’s not that telepathy is a complete surprise to Luke — Zhi-Alam and xer hatchmates can communicate telepathically sometimes because of their shared Force sensitivity — but he never expected to experience it himself.</p>
<p>“Luke?” Baze asks.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Luke says, shaking his head, widening his eyes and then blinking. It feels like trying to recover from a flash of vertigo. He tries to pick up the thread of their conversation again. “I mean, she is a politician,” he manages.</p>
<p>Baze blows a single breath out of his nose and says, “There are many, many politicians who are not clever.”</p>
<p>Luke flicks his eyebrows up, acknowledging. After another long moment studying Leia and her storytelling, Luke asks, “Could you tell her good night from me and that we’ll talk in the morning?”</p>
<p>Baze harrumphs in the back of his throat. It’s a sound Luke’s very familiar with and it usually doesn’t bode well for him. But he can’t handle the thought of having another whole conversation with Leia tonight, can’t even begin to contemplate the idea of going to Naboo, a place hostile and strange and far away from everyone he knows.</p>
<p>So he pleads, “I know, I know, but I just . . . need some time.”</p>
<p>Baze waves him off with a single, “Go.”</p>
<p>Luke sinks into his bed with relief, but his dreams are strange and unrestful. It’s only during dawn prayers in the courtyard, the dew gathered on the stone seeping slowly into his pants, that Luke’s shoulders start to unwind and he can feel his heartbeat slow into a familiar, pulsing rhythm. There is only this moment and the Force and the Force is everywhere, everything.</p>
<p>It gives him the balance to do what he needs. As everyone filters out of the courtyard, off to the dining hall or duties or back to bed, Luke slowly makes his way over to Chirrut and Baze’s quarters, trailing his fingers along the stone walls of the Temple, the mud brick of the living quarters.</p>
<p>“Ah! My favorite student,” Chirrut declares, gesturing him in, from where he’s bustling around making tea.</p>
<p>“You shouldn’t say that,” Luke replies, though it makes him smile. He needed to hear that, after the past day.</p>
<p>“Well, every student is my favorite, of course,” Chirrut says, waving the objection away. “But,” he leans in conspiratorially, “who else will humor my puns?”</p>
<p>“Nobody,” Luke agrees, sitting cross-legged across Chirrut’s now-familiar tea table. “Cause they’re really bad.”</p>
<p>Chirrut lets out a, “Ha!” that clearly indicates he believes the puns to be hilarious. Luke’s not going to argue. Not today at least, when he’s got more important things to discuss.</p>
<p>Chirrut sets two small, steaming mugs of tea on the table. Then, he settles across from Luke, and asks, “So. What is this dilemma that must be solved so early in the day?”</p>
<p>Luke huffs, tracing a finger around the rim of his teacup. “Leia is my biological sister,” he begins. Then he unspools the whole story, at least the parts of the story he knows, the parts that Leia and then Owen and Beru shared.</p>
<p>Chirruts hums and nods and presses Luke’s hand with solemn compassion.</p>
<p>“She wants me to go to Naboo with her,” Luke finishes. “But that’s ridiculous, right?” His voice trails upward, betraying more doubt than he wants to — it <em>is </em>ridiculous. But it’s still somehow compelling.</p>
<p>“Ridiculous?” Chirrut repeats thoughtfully. Then he leans in across the table. “Ridiculous is ignoring such an obvious sign from the Force! Do you think this happens everyday?”</p>
<p>Luke gapes. “But I can’t leave Jedha!” he says. The idea is dizzying, like standing on the edge of a cliff and looking down. “And I definitely can’t go to <em>Naboo</em>.” Owen and Beru think so, Bodhi thinks so, even Luke himself thinks it.</p>
<p>“Why not?” Chirrut demands.</p>
<p>“Because it’s in the Empire?” Luke says, incredulous that he needs to even bring that up an objection. “They kill people like us.”</p>
<p>“They killed people like us here,” Chirrut says solemnly. “And if the Force is calling you, then this journey must hold something that is greater than the danger.”</p>
<p>“But I have duties here,” Luke protests, feeling the ground shift beneath him, falling away like a dune in a sandstorm. “The Return is in four weeks!”</p>
<p>Chirrut cocks his head sideways, like he’s listening to the wind. “We are Guardians,” he says. “We must take only what is freely given to us. But once a gift has been given, we must accept it.”</p>
<p>Luke breathes in a sharp breath, the truth of it settling heavy in his lungs. “I’m going,” he murmurs, staring into his tea, trying to comprehend it.</p>
<hr/>
<p>“I’ve got your orders,” Walun tells him, her holographic image somehow managing to convey her vexation just as strongly her eyebrows usually do in person. “You won’t like them.”</p>
<p>Bodhi squares his shoulders and readies himself.</p>
<p>“You’re to take the princess and,” Walun’s mouth twists sardonically, “here I quote, a personal guest, to Cloud City —”</p>
<p>Bodhi’s stomach sinks. He’s sure he knows who that personal guest is and he can’t imagine how or why Leia changed Luke’s mind.</p>
<p>But Walun’s not done. “ — to rendezvous with two informants and the Commonwealth intelligence team, before continuing on with the princess, her guest, and the intelligence officers to Naboo for the duration of the negotiations.” Walun looks up and concludes, “I’d say you were getting off easy, with a proper diplomatic transport assignment and all, but given that the intelligence officers in question are your favorite little band of —” she raises one eyebrow dubiously “ — <em>special operatives</em>, I can’t imagine this is purely diplomatic.”</p>
<p>Bodhi’s chest feels lighter for a moment, hearing that it’s Cassian, Jyn, and Kaytoo who will be accompanying them. But then pressure on his ribs returns when he assesses. Walun’s right. They don’t get called in to ride along on good-will diplomatic missions. There’s something else that Commonwealth Intelligence wants to do or have done on Naboo. Ordinarily, Bodhi’d find that interesting — up to the ears in secrets, just like he’d been promised — but under the circumstances, it just adds to the dread.</p>
<p>“Anyway, you leave today!” Walun says, clapping her hands and breaking into Bodhi’s stream of thought.</p>
<p>“Today?” Bodhi echoes incredulously.</p>
<p>“This little off-the-books excursion has apparently messed with the Ministry of Diplomacy’s timeline and you know they feel about that,” Walun said.</p>
<p>So that’s how Bodhi finds himself prepping Monsoon Echo for the trek out to Bespin only an hour later. Luke and Princess Leia show up while Bodhi’s doing his external walk-around.</p>
<p>The princess smiles and says, “As you’re aware of my presence this time, I’ll take a cabin. I’m sure we’d both prefer that.”</p>
<p>“Please do,” Bodhi mumbles, gesturing up the ramp.</p>
<p>Leia nods with a gracious tilt of her coiffed head, evidently needing no further welcome to march up into Bodhi’s ship with supreme confidence.</p>
<p>Luke, though, continues standing in front of Monsoon Echo, adjusting his grip on a worn travel bag, eyebrows drawn together and lips twisted in apprehension. He’s in his Guardian’s robes but with his messy, windblown hair and expression, Bodhi can’t help but think he looks terribly young. He has the urge to wrap Luke up in a hug and tell him it’s going to be fine. But that wouldn’t be a promise Bodhi could truthfully and confidently make.</p>
<p>Instead, Bodhi settles for leaning in, gripping Luke’s shoulder, and saying, “Hey, listen, if you don’t want to do this, we can turn around right now. Just because she’s a princess” — <em>and your impossible twin</em>, Bodhi adds in mentally<em> — </em>“doesn’t mean we have to do what she says.”</p>
<p>Luke looks up and smiles softly. “Thanks,” he says, quiet, under the whirr of ships lifting off, landing. Then he shakes his head. “That’s not what I was thinking, though. Chirrut said that Leia coming was a sign from the Force. That there must be something about going to Naboo that’s more important than the danger.”</p>
<p>Bodhi’s always been taught that the Force is generous, vital, the life that emerges after the rains. But of course the poetry all says that sometimes loving the Force is like a kind of madness. And to be loved <em>by</em> the Force — that is the sort of thing that builds Holy Cities like NiJedha, and that equally destroys dynasties. Bodhi thought those days were past. But Luke’s talking in signs and signals like he belongs in Jedha’s ancient legends.</p>
<p>Luke shakes his head like dispelling a thought and continues, “I think . . . I think he’s probably right. I’ve been feeling like something big was going to happen. And I’d like to learn more about my mother, from someone who really knew her. It’s just,” Luke pauses, chewing on his lower lip for a moment, “I was thinking. The last time I was in space, it was to come here. We left and — I’ve never been back to Tatooine. Ever.”</p>
<p>Luke turns his head and Bodhi doesn’t have to look to know he’s looking for the Temple, rising up above the rest of the city.</p>
<p>"I've just got this weird feeling, like maybe I'm never going to see it again," Luke says.</p>
<p>“You will," Bodhi says immediately, because that’s a step too far for him. "Of course you're coming back here. We both are." The conviction rises up through him from the dust beneath their feet. He’s seen whole chunks of the galaxy now, but his blood will always know that Jedha is home. And Luke loves Jedha — the city, the moon, the Temple most of all — with his wide-eyed convert’s passion. He has since the first day Bodhi met him. Bodhi’s faith may have wavered and stretched over the years, but he’s certain about this.</p>
<p>So he musters a smile, bumps Luke’s shoulder with his own and says, “Stop being so dramatic.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>During liftoff, they all buckle into the seats in the cockpit. Bodhi slips on his headset and throws back switches with practiced ease. Luke listens only half-comprehending as Bodhi informs the controllers in the central tower of their departure. Then they’re up and out, into the clear blue of Jedha’s sky. Luke has sat beside Bodhi in Monsoon Echo’s cockpit plenty of times since he got the ship, but it’s the first time Luke’s actually seen Bodhi break atmo. Bodhi’s hands move across the controls precisely and confidently, alighting and then lifting, moving onto the next step. In a few short cycles of breath, they’re past Jedha’s protective bubble of life and that much closer to the stars.</p>
<p>Luke tries not to gape at the expanse of space — it’s not the first time he’s seen it with his own eyes, but it is just as vast and overwhelming as he remembered.</p>
<p>“Beginning hyperspace calculations,” Bodhi says, voice deeper than usual, like he’s making an announcement. Luke guesses he’s probably used to flying more people, who’d usually be back in the handful of cabins.</p>
<p>Leia unclips herself from where she’s sitting in the row behind them and gets up. She lays a gentle hand on Bodhi’s shoulder and asks, “Would you mind waiting to jump? I need to check in with the Ministry for some updates. Our diplomatic back channel comms don’t connect well in hyperspace.”</p>
<p>She rolls her eyes at Luke eloquently.</p>
<p>Knowing the Ministry of Diplomacy's tech is outdated isn't exactly reassuring, Luke thinks to himself. Leia smirks at him momentarily, like she guesses — or hears — his thought.</p>
<p>Bodhi just nods without turning to look at her. “We’ll jump whenever you’re ready, your highness,” he says, all military flatness. “I’ll set course to get us out of the star system in the meantime.”</p>
<p>When Leia exits the cockpit, looped braids swinging, Luke raises his eyebrows at Bodhi, who doesn’t notice, too busy making adjustments.</p>
<p>“You don’t have to be mean to her for my sake,” Luke says, crossing his arms. “I like her, actually.”</p>
<p>It’s true. It’s hardly Leia’s fault that they’ve both been lied to most of their lives. That’s true no matter how much Luke’s temper wanted to lash out at first. It’s really one thought that rankles most — that Ben has spent so many years out of contact when he was in a royal palace, could have commed any time, if he hadn’t decided it was unsafe.</p>
<p>No, on her own, Leia is a comfortable, welcome presence, at the same time that she’s some strange conduit into the unknown, into the galaxy beyond Jedha.</p>
<p>Bodhi looks over, mouth pulled in sourly. “I’m not being <em>mean</em>,” he says. “You’re making it sound like I pulled her braids in the schoolyard or something.”</p>
<p>Luke almost snorts because that’s impossible to picture — for one, he can only imagine Leia would’ve punched anyone who tried, and of course, back in school, Bodhi and his friends were the sort far more likely to be found at the far sidelines of upper school shenanigans, playing cards or listening to the results of the kite races on some smuggled-in comm.</p>
<p>Bodhi continues, “I’m maintaining mission parameters and following her lead, the way I’m supposed to. We don’t have to be instant friends, yeah?”</p>
<p>“But you could be nicer,” Luke says, feeling surprisingly like he’s back teaching his motley crew of young Guardian novices. He frequently has to remind them not to just go around tripping people now that they’re better than most at spotting the opportunity.</p>
<p>Bodhi doesn’t respond, just lets his gaze settle back on his control panel and the viewport ahead.</p>
<p>“It’s hard for her, too,” Luke says. He hasn’t known Leia long — only a day, how strange is that? — and she’s guarded, but he knows with certainty he’s right about this. “She’s trying to give us a chance to figure things out together. Could you just,” Luke shrugs, “be a little friendlier?”</p>
<p>Bodhi sighs and scrubs a hand over his face, but then he nods. “Alright,” he says, offering a hint of a tired smile. “I’ll do my best.”</p>
<p>“Good,” Luke says, letting himself settle back comfortably into his seat now and concentrate on the viewport.</p>
<p>NaJedha’s star system is breathtaking.</p>
<p>“That’s Longnu’s Belt!” Luke says, grinning, taking in the famous asteroid belt roiling in the middle distance.</p>
<p>Longnu was a princess who renounced her title to become one of Ananda’s last disciples. The stories say she was the first person to map a stable route through the asteroid belt. All so she and the other Wandering Ones could travel further and faster, sharing the lessons of the Path. Most ships these days simply jump into hyperspace before hitting the Belt, but it’s still named for her, still a celebrated part of Jedhan space. Luke’s seen plenty of holos of it before, even navigated a more stable portion of it in a sim before (frustratingly, he’d died multiple times before getting it right). But right in front of his eyes, it’s astonishing, stretching out in a long arc of irregular, tumbling asteroids.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Bodhi says, smiling back, toothy and warm.</p>
<p>Excitement grows in Luke’s stomach. Sitting up again and clasping his hands together to keep the eagerness he’s feeling from spilling out too much, Luke asks, “You think you could fly through it?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, of course,” Bodhi says absently. “If I wanted to make life harder for myself.”</p>
<p>Luke waits expectantly, staring at Bodhi to underline his point.</p>
<p>Bodhi’s eyes shift slowly sideways, toward him. “What?” he says, one shoulder jerking back. “You want me to actually do it?”</p>
<p>“Yeah!” Luke says. It would be <em>so cool</em>. He hasn’t even been in space in a decade, much less gotten to see the kind of flying getting through Longnu’s Belt requires. Now that the thought has occurred to him, he wants to, so badly. Because he was raised to be polite, Luke adds, “Please?”</p>
<p>“With royalty on board?” Bodhi wrinkles his nose. “I’m in enough trouble as it is.”</p>
<p>“No, Bodhi, come on! Leia would be cool with it.”</p>
<p>Luke’s . . . pretty sure that’s true. Or that’s what he’d guess, based on some of the stories of Leia shared about training for the diplomatic corps with her friend Winter. If Luke had pulled some of the stunts Leia so blithely recounted on their way to the spaceport this morning, Owen and Beru would probably have never let him out of the house again.</p>
<p>Bodhi glances back at him again, eyes bright. He’s considering it, and Luke doesn’t know when he’s going to get this opportunity again. So Luke adds, “C’mon, please?”</p>
<p>Bodhi bites his lip and shakes his head, pointing a finger at Luke. It’s cute. “You are a bad influence.”</p>
<p>“Me!” Luke says. “I’m a good influence! I’m just . . . giving you a chance to demonstrate your skills. And you get to show off what Monsoon Echo can do in space!” Luke says, throwing out his arms. “All I’ve got to go on is stories, right now.”</p>
<p>“And now you’re baiting me?” Bodhi’s raising his eyebrows, but the corners of his eyes are scrunched up in amusement.</p>
<p>“I could bribe you next?” Luke says, starting to feel a little giddy. This has been the strangest week of his life, but at least he gets this.</p>
<p>“With what?” Bodhi laughs. “You literally don’t own anything.”</p>
<p>“Bodhi, please!” Luke says again.</p>
<p>Bodhi turns back to the controls, flips some switches, says, “I’m blaming you if she gets any dents,” and speeds them towards Longnu’s Belt.</p>
<p>Luke’s heartbeat picks up as Bodhi swoops them around one hurtling asteroid and then another, rotating Monsoon Echo in rapid spirals, catching the ephemeral channels between rocks the computer picks out and threading the ship through. Bodhi’s muscles are tense with concentration but Luke can feel his answering exhilaration, the spark of pride in his ship thrumming just below the surface, and the toothy, hard edge of his determination.</p>
<p>This was a mistake, Luke abruptly realizes. An inconvenient flush rises up from his chest, painting heat across his cheeks. Because he’s not thinking about how breathtaking space is anymore. He’s thinking about the tendons of Bodhi’s neck, about the angle of his wrist as he pushes for more speed, about, <em>oh</em>, his resolute mouth. Luke hasn’t wanted to kiss anyone since that last gut-wrenching good-bye kiss with Harun, more than a year ago. But now his whole body feels hot with blood and longing. Luke wants to lean over, brush his lips to Bodhi’s, a thank you and a please wrapped up in one.</p>
<p>Then, suddenly, they’re through. Bodhi sits back, lifting his hands off the controls and laughing.</p>
<p>“See?” he says. “I knew I could.”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Luke says, trying to grab at his pinwheeling emotions, stuff them back into some semblance of order or sanity, “me, too.”</p>
<p>This is, he thinks with a wave of anguished embarrassment, so <em>inconvenient</em>. Luke’s had a crush on Bodhi, off and on, since before he even recognized it as anything more than wanting Bodhi’s attention. A byproduct, maybe, of Bodhi being the first person vaguely his age to befriend him and show him around NiJedha, or the inevitable consequence of Bodhi being his cool older neighbor who’d glare at anyone who was mean to him and play racing games with him and Shabana at the arcade. And then of course Bodhi’d grown up to be utterly beautiful while Luke was still all awkward angles. How could Luke not have wanted to kiss Bodhi, or touch his hair, or make him laugh?</p>
<p>But Luke had thought he’d aged out of the breathless pointlessness of all that wanting. He had thought that he'd quietly set it down, since learning the way Harun’s green eyes look when he’s just been kissed, and feeling the overpowering joy of watching the sun rise from the Vaikaasi Caves. That without even really meaning to, he had let it fade into just another fond memory from his beautiful childhood.</p>
<p>Except clearly he hasn’t, at all. Luke feels shivery from the pull of Bodhi’s presence next to him, from the thought that Bodhi’s just done something so recklessly impressive just because Luke asked. But that doesn’t mean what his body wants it to. And as Baze constantly reminds him, just because something is his first impulse doesn’t mean it’s actually what he should do.</p>
<p>Luke takes a deep breath in, hoping to steady himself.</p>
<p>“Didn’t realize I was in for a stunt show,” Leia’s voice says, approaching.</p>
<p>Turns out that’s enough to shock Luke into shoving his ill-timed spike of lust back into the recesses of his mind.</p>
<p>Still, he must give away something, because Leia shoots him a puzzled, studying glance.</p>
<p>She might be his sister, but it seems a little early to sit on her bunk and share about how his most long-standing crush has just inconveniently reasserted itself.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry, your highness,” Bodhi murmurs. “I hope we didn’t disturb you.”</p>
<p>Luke gives Bodhi a reproving look. He really would like Bodhi and Leia to be friendlier.</p>
<p>Bodhi gives him a bit of a flat look in return. But then he turns towards where Leia’s leant up against the cockpit entrance and adds with a faint, sheepish smile, “Longnu’s Belt is kind of famous, back on Jedha. Everyone wants to try it at least once, and Luke’s never seen it before.”</p>
<p>“Well, then I suppose I’m the one who’s sorry I didn’t get a better view,” Leia says.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Once Bodhi jumps them to hyperspace, Luke and Princess Leia wander out of the cockpit, talking in low voices in the common area. Bodhi deliberately doesn’t eavesdrop, despite his curiosity.</p>
<p>But when Luke calls him in for what would be dinner back on Jedha, Bodhi switches the controls over to Monsoon Echo’s autopilot, patting his console on the way out. He promised he’d be friendlier and he’s going to try.</p>
<p>Bodhi steels himself for a half-hour of scrounging for polite small talk, something at which he has never excelled even when in a good mood. But, perhaps unsurprisingly, Leia is adept at keeping the conversation flowing. She tells stories of life in the diplomatic corps, about entering the hastily created Diplomatic Service Academy in Aldera at only fifteen, about following the Ministry of Diplomacy to its newly completed headquarters in the Capital on Hosnia last year. She and Bodhi have been to enough of the same places over the years that Bodhi finds himself chiming in from time to time. He still sort of wants to be annoyed that the princess is so good at this. But their mutual description of the hideous sculpture in front of the Health Ministry building on Hosnia has Luke laughing so hard that he’s red in the face. Bodhi can’t really hold onto his resentment in the face of that.</p>
<p>Bodhi reluctantly concludes that maybe the next few days before they get to Cloud City might not be so bad.</p>
<p>Still, there’s a kind of relief in settling back into the pilot’s seat that night, out of his uniform but falling back into the professional routine of checking on Monsoon Echo’s instruments. He could set it to autopilot, probably. Ordinarily he would, because the trip to Bespin is easy, Commonwealth space the whole way. But this whole undertaking is making him anxious. Bodhi knows if he went to his quarters and laid down, he’d just be thinking about the dangers. Here in the cockpit of his ship in hyperspace, Bodhi knows what to expect, has the skills to respond. He needs that to settle his mind.</p>
<p>“Hey,” a hoarse voice says from behind him.</p>
<p>Bodhi looks back over his shoulder. It’s Luke, rubbing at his eyes, hair out of place, like he’s been tossing and turning.</p>
<p>“What are you doing up? Aren’t you tired?” Bodhi asks.</p>
<p>Luke shrugs and drops into the co-pilot’s seat, brown Jedhan shawl tossed over his shoulders. “Yeah, but I couldn’t sleep,” he says. “I guess I’m too used to sharing a room with at least three other people.”</p>
<p>“Or sleeping on the ground?” Bodhi offers, glancing over the nav system before settling back. A distraction’s welcome, really.</p>
<p>Luke snorts and curls his legs up into the chair. He’s shoeless, which Bodhi ought to disapprove of. But it’s nice, having someone be at home on his ship.</p>
<p>“Something like that,” Luke says. “It was too quiet.”</p>
<p>“This ship. In space. Was too quiet?” Bodhi shakes his head. Like an old house, every good transport ship has its own settling sounds and his girl is no different.</p>
<p>“Mmm,” Luke allows, tipping his hand in a semi-conceding gesture. “I think it’s just that I usually hear the city, or the desert. A ship’s different. I just need to get used to it.”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Bodhi agrees.</p>
<p>“Anyway,” Luke says, pushing himself up and folding himself cross-legged. “We’re in space! I thought I would stargaze.”</p>
<p>Even half asleep, he still looks brightly excited by the view out the cockpit. It’s sweet. Luke has never seemed all that troubled by how moon-bound life as a Guardian would inevitably be, even though he’s always shared Bodhi’s unabashed enthusiasm for flying. But Bodhi has sometimes wondered about whether Luke is really as sanguine about it as he seems. Mostly when Luke would stick his head into Monsoon Echo’s engine room or trail his fingers over the controls in the cockpit, asking a dozen questions in a row.</p>
<p>This mission is the opposite of what Bodhi wants to be doing right now. But Luke getting to see all of this, the part that makes Fleet life entirely worth it, warms Bodhi’s chest.</p>
<p>“Space is good for that,” Bodhi agrees, though mostly he’s looking at Luke, studying him. It’s been a whirlwind two days and he hasn’t really gotten a chance to actually take stock of how much Luke has changed since they last saw each other.</p>
<p>Luke’s features have lost their childhood roundedness, like they’ve decided now how they’re going to settle, with an unforeseen firmness to his dimpled chin. Luke’s hair is just slightly wavy, at the ends, where it brushes against the back of his neck and slips across his temples. It suits him, adds a delicacy to balance the way he’s filled out at the shoulders.</p>
<p>But for all the change, Luke still looks like any Old City boy, wrapped in one of those spring-and-harvest shawls stitched by the aunties in the garment district. A little picture of home, ensconced in Bodhi’s Commonwealth ship, in the bit of his life that’s taken him so far from his desert moon.</p>
<p>It’s not that there are no other Jedhans in the Commonwealth Fleet, but they’re outnumbered by far by Alderaanians, Chandrilians, and Mon Calamari. With everyone in uniform, eating rations, speaking nothing but Basic unsprinkled by travelers’ tongues most of the time, there's few reminders of home. Bodhi wishes, suddenly, he'd taken the extra shawl Amma had tried pressing on him as he was leaving, even though he already has two back on base.</p>
<p>“Tell me about Bespin?” Luke asks, dragging Bodhi back into the present.</p>
<p>“It’s a gas giant,” Bodhi says. “Cloud City’s above it. You’ll love it. It looks like — you remember the background paintings from those old holofilms? They used to show them all the time during the monsoon, at the Janat theater. With all those ancient Jedhan princesses falling in love?”</p>
<p>“Yeah!” Luke says, eyes lighting up.</p>
<p>“In the morning, the clouds on Bespin look just like that. But for real,” Bodhi says. He realizes, suddenly, that he’s been waiting a long time to share that with someone who would understand the reference.</p>
<p>Luke smiles, a dreamy, distant look in his eyes. “I miss that theater,” Luke says finally. The thought drifts into the warm silence between them.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Bodhi agrees. “I still can’t believe it closed!”</p>
<p>Luke shrugs, his dreaminess fading into the same kind of tired knowingness Bodhi encounters when sharing these kinds of thoughts with his sisters, who stayed.</p>
<p>“Can’t stop the city from changing,” Luke says matter-of-factly.</p>
<p>“No,” Bodhi says slowly. “Guess not.”</p>
<p>Luke shakes his head, as if he’s dispelling Bodhi’s fog of melancholy (and maybe he is, Luke’s always been good with emotions), and asks, “What else should I know about Cloud City?”</p>
<p>So Bodhi talks, sharing stories into the quiet cockpit, then letting the soft silence of familiar companionship settle between them when he runs out of things off the top of his mind. Luke’s started blinking slowly, head drifting down and jerking back up, too stubborn to simply let sleep whisk him away. Bodhi’s really more murmuring quiet nonsense to himself and the ship now, the way he would if it were just him in the cockpit.</p>
<p>Bodhi takes a moment to check over the comms, just in case. He looks up to find Luke actually asleep this time, his head lolled sideways, towards Bodhi. It can’t be comfortable and Bodhi’s going to wake him in a minute, hustle him off to bed. But just for the moment, he looks peaceful. Bodhi doesn’t want to disturb him just yet.</p>
<p>Looking at him sleep, Bodhi can’t help but notice that Luke has very long eyelashes, the kind the Jedhan poets are always going on about. Something about that being the place where dreams alight, Bodhi half-remembers. It’s a disconcerting thing to realize, that somewhere in the moments Bodhi missed, Luke has grown up into someone easy to think of as handsome.</p>
<p>Bodhi wonders idly if for the Guardian novices he teaches, Luke’s the cute instructor; if any of Luke’s university classmates brave the austerity of his Guardian’s robes and invite him out to trade poetry verses and flirt in the Alderaanian-style cafes that seem to have popped up across the Commonwealth.</p>
<p>In his letters, Luke’s never mentioned dating or courting. But then again, he’s never really talked to Bodhi about stuff like that. Bodhi remembers Shabana complaining mildly about Luke spending too much of his time the summer before his First Journey with some boy he was dating instead of with her. Based on the lack of continued griping from his cousin, Bodhi gets the impression that’s been over for a while.</p>
<p>But Luke’s young, and enthusiastic, and cute. Hopefully he's having all the usual new experiences a university student ought to have, whatever those are exactly.</p>
<p>Bodhi doesn’t quite wish all the adventures and misadventures of his Fleet Academy years on Luke, because Force knows those had featured some questionable decision-making at times. But the good parts of it, at least. Luke deserves that, not being caught up in political intrigue just because of his genetics.</p>
<p>Bodhi can't reverse what's already happened. He can make sure Luke actually gets some sleep in a proper bed tonight, though. He turns on autopilot, pats his console good night, and then reaches out and shakes Luke awake, gently.</p>
<p>Luke blinks and makes a low, confused sound in the back of his throat.</p>
<p>"C'mon, you need to get some real sleep," Bodhi says softly.</p>
<p>Luke shakes his head, though whether he's disagreeing or trying to get his bearings, Bodhi's not sure.</p>
<p>“Yup, c’mon, up, up,” Bodhi says, tugging on Luke’s wrist.</p>
<p>“I’m just gonna end lying awake,” Luke grouses, though he lets Bodhi lead him out of the cockpit.</p>
<p>Bodhi glances back at Luke, who’s squinting slightly and clutching his shawl closer over his shoulders, and feels a warm bloom of affection.</p>
<p>“You can come sleep in my bunk. We can share,” Bodhi offers. “It’ll be like when we were kids.”</p>
<p>Luke blinks and frowns at the floor for a moment and then asks, “You sure?”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Bodhi says, nodding his head back toward his quarters. “Come on. It’s been a really strange couple of days. We could both use some sleep, yeah?”</p>
<p>Luke nods like his head is weighted. Once they reach Bodhi’s quarters, though, it takes no encouragement whatsoever for Luke to slump down onto Bodhi’s bed and wriggle under the covers.</p>
<p>“G’night,” Luke mumbles into the pillow he’s co-opted.</p>
<p>Bodhi chuckles softly. “Good night,” he replies, before going through his bedtime routine.</p>
<p>By the time he’s come out of the ‘fresher, Luke’s sound asleep, breath soft and steady and reassuring as Bodhi settles in besides him and closes his eyes.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Luke drifts slowly towards wakefulness before burrowing further down into the comfortable warmth surrounding him — he doesn’t have pre-dawn duties today, and he can just tell it’s too early. Besides he’s cozy as is, weighed down by blankets and lulled by the cloudy outline of a friend’s pleasant dreams drifting close by.</p>
<p>The second time Luke wakes though, it’s for real — his body tells him it really is time for dawn prayers. Then his mind filters in the unfamiliar sounds, the warm arm slung loosely around his waist, the soft breaths ghosting at the back of his neck.</p>
<p>Luke’s eyes startle open as his stomach flips. He must shift or flinch, because behind him, Bodhi makes a snuffling sound and wriggles closer, tucking his forehead to the back of Luke’s neck. Heat flashes down Luke’s spine, embarrassment and arousal entwined. Bodhi’s hand is softly resting over his ribs and Luke can feel where his own foot must be pressed up against Bodhi’s ankle. None of it’s all that suggestive, but it’s <em>intimate</em>, Luke thinks. The rise and fall of Bodhi’s breathing is so close that Luke’s skin tingles with proximity.</p>
<p>And letting himself follow that train of thought can only lead bad places. So Luke shoves himself out of bed, feet hitting the cold floor in a harsh wake up call. Bodhi shifts around in bed and makes a muffled questioning sound, his eyes cracking open.</p>
<p>“Morning!” Luke says, clapping his hands together out of an absolutely wrong nervous instinct.</p>
<p>Bodhi just blinks slowly and sleepily, lifting his head off his pillow slightly, still looking hazy and barely awake. Luke’s chest clenches warmly. Luke wants to cup Bodhi’s face between his hands and kiss him.</p>
<p>“We should do dawn prayers!” Luke blurts out. Then, to escape his own awkwardness, Luke flees into the ‘fresher to wash his face and hands. The water is cold and at least takes care of some of the flush on his face.</p>
<p>When he emerges, Bodhi’s sitting up in bed, rubbing at his eyes and generally looking like Luke imagines he always did when he was a kid and Owen and Beru would wake him in what felt like the middle of the night during harvest, to start chores.</p>
<p>“Were you always this chipper in the morning and I just forgot?” Bodhi asks, a little hoarsely.</p>
<p>“Yup!” Luke says, which maybe isn’t strictly accurate. “Come on, let’s do dawn prayers.”</p>
<p>“Is it really dawn, though?” Bodhi asks, a mischievous smile flickering to life in his eyes. “We’re in space! And we’re going to flip over to Bespin time the day after tomorrow.”</p>
<p>Luke huffs at Bodhi and crosses his arms, trying to suppress the smile that wants to surface and ruin the effect.</p>
<p>“It’s sort of never dawn in space,” Bodhi says. “Or always, I guess, because of the stars. How can we know?”</p>
<p>“That is <em>cheating</em>!” Luke says, the emotion more real this time. “There’s been interplanetary Travelers for ages. You know you just pick one time or the other.”</p>
<p>Bodhi laughs and pushes himself to the edge of the bed, wincing slightly as his feet hit the floor. When he stands, he elbows Luke in the arm lightly, saying, “Sorry, sorry. I’m teasing,” Bodhi says. “You’re still so easy to rile up.”</p>
<p>Luke sticks out his tongue, before sitting down on the floor, calves folded under himself. He can sense Bodhi doing the same beside him as he lets his eyes fall shut. Luke runs through the traditional recitation in his mind, taking a few extra moments to breath in and out, let his Force sense ripple out — taking note of what snags at his mind (Leia’s burning bright presence, Bodhi’s familiar one) and letting it fall away like waves.</p>
<p>When he opens his eyes, Bodhi’s shifted into a cross-legged position.</p>
<p>“I stopped doing dawn prayers, for a long time,” Bodhi says, looking down and tapping his fingers against his knees. “Well. All of the prayers, really, but definitely dawn prayers.”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Luke says, absently. “That’s always the easiest to miss, isn’t it?”</p>
<p>Bodhi glances sideways, lower lip folded in. “It doesn’t bother you?” he asks.</p>
<p>He’s talking to the Guardian more than his old friend, Luke can tell, but that’s okay. He’s starting to get used to that happening with people.</p>
<p>“That it was so easy for me to just stop like that?”</p>
<p>“No, but I’m getting the sense that it maybe bothers you,” Luke says, looking back at Bodhi.</p>
<p>Bodhi sighs and smiles wryly. “It didn’t particularly, at the time. But I guess I’ve just been thinking about home more lately. Since Tarika was born. And it’s sort of silly? It’s not like Asha or Arvind are all that devout either. But I just sort of missed the Temple and the prayers. It makes me feel a little guilty though, sometimes. About feeling like it was too restricting, before.”</p>
<p>Luke nods. “I can understand wanting a break,” he says, shrugging. “It can be a lot, everyday, every year.”</p>
<p>The Force sings around him every day, so Luke can never deny its existence. But considering everything that’s happened in the past few days, it’s not hard to understand the appeal of just quietly walking away, at least for a while.</p>
<p>“Really?” Bodhi asks. “It always seemed like it came really easily, for you. I sort of envied that.” His tone is gentle and curious, and Luke’s sense of him shades in a trickle of concern as well.</p>
<p>“Everything felt so unsettled, when we came to Jedha. Going to the Temple was the first thing I felt really sure about — it was like there was suddenly this order to things, you know? That’s what drew me to the Guardians, I think. All the structure,” Luke tries to explain. “The Force is so . . . it’s endless,” he says, stretching his arms out with the feeling, failing as always to capture what he really means in words. “I needed some way of figuring out how to balance feeling that with . . .” he gestures vaguely at himself.</p>
<p>“Being a twelve-year-old human boy?” Bodhi asks, lips quirking upward for a moment.</p>
<p>“Yeah.” Luke slides out of his seated prayer position, to sit back and pull his knees up to his chest. “But that’s the thing about the Force, isn’t it? It’s always going to be there. Whether or not you do dawn prayers regularly.” He nods over at Bodhi.</p>
<p>“So you dragging me out of bed was just for your peace of mind, then?” Bodhi asks, nudging at Luke’s side.</p>
<p>Luke wants to lay his head on Bodhi’s shoulder and feel the warmth of his body along his side. Instead, he just says, sing-song, “Maybe,” before getting to his feet and offering Bodhi a hand up.</p>
<hr/>
<p>They’re making good time and despite the slow start, they’re on track to reach Cloud City on time, in three standard days.</p>
<p>Princess Leia’s clearly used to long-haul travel and seems as untroubled as Bodhi is. But by breakfast, Luke is already fidgeting, restless.</p>
<p>Bodhi snorts and taps at Luke’s ankle with the toe of his boot. Across the table, Leia raises an eyebrow, an amused smile half-hidden by her steaming cup of caf.</p>
<p>Luke stills and mumbles something about being used to spending his mornings training or on patrol, when he’s not at the university.</p>
<p>“Then we should train,” Leia says. “Can we clear the space?” she asks, gesturing over to the common area beyond the kitchen.</p>
<p>“Except for what’s bolted down,” Bodhi says, a little dubiously. He’s seen glimpses of Guardian staff-fighting training over the years and he fears for the contents of the room already.</p>
<p>“Did Ben ever teach you how to use a lightsaber?” Leia asks.</p>
<p>Bodhi chokes. He’s heard of lightsabers before, but only in the stories about the Jedi that float around Jedha, and occasionally in the Fleet reports he’s read about the black market in Jedi artifacts. He never actually expected to see one, or to hear one spoken of so casually, much less by a princess.</p>
<p>Luke shakes his head. “I saw him use his,” Luke narrows his eyes thoughtfully, “once or twice, maybe? But all he said was that it was a weapon and I shouldn’t worry about it. I didn’t realize what it was, back then.”</p>
<p>Leia’s smile is a strange, contorted thing. “You were too young, I guess. Or maybe a little less stubborn than I was,” she says.</p>
<p>“You . . . have a lightsaber?” Bodhi asks. “Here? On board?”</p>
<p>Leia tips her head sideways. “Sorry,” she says wryly. “I was taught not to go anywhere without it. You never know when some aggressive negotiations might be needed.”</p>
<p>“Right,” Bodhi says faintly. Not only did the princess sneak herself on board without him noticing, but she was armed with a very dangerous, very valuable weapon the whole time. Bodhi really, really needs to work on his pre-flight security checks.</p>
<p>“I could teach you,” Leia proposes, looking at Luke.</p>
<p>“Oh, okay, definitely not!” Bodhi cuts in immediately, the images of the damage a lightsaber could do to his ship tumbling through his brain at breakneck speed. “How about we wait until we aren’t on a ship whose structural integrity is the only thing separating us from the void of space to do that?”</p>
<p>Luke laughs, as if Bodhi’s telling a joke rather than merely displaying an appropriate level of caution about the use of laser swords on his ship.</p>
<p>Leia grins too. “It actually isn’t as dangerous as it sounds.”</p>
<p>Bodhi finds himself making a protesting noise in his throat without even consciously thinking about it.</p>
<p>“But,” Leia continues quickly, “there’s other things we could do.” She turns to Luke and says softly, “I’ve never had anyone I could train with before. That would be nice.”</p>
<p>Luke’s face crumples into an expression of deep, compassionate concern. “Yeah,” he says quietly. “I’d like to learn.”</p>
<p>Leia smiles again and nods. “And maybe you could show me a few things. It’s interesting, seeing how you do things differently.”</p>
<p>After that, Bodhi can hardly object to them rearranging the common space. He would never be another obstacle to them learning about one another and the gift they share, after so many years apart.</p>
<p>So Bodhi leaves them to it, running through the usual duties he’d carry out on a trip like this — walking through the engine room, jotting notes for the mechanics when he next gets back to base; starting the datawork for their landing at Cloud City while listening to an episode of an audio series Kari got him addicted to; checking Monsoon Echo’s rather spare inventory, which will keep them fed and watered through Cloud City but no farther.</p>
<p>By the time Bodhi’s finished, he’s hungry, suddenly aware that it’s past time to eat again. It’s easy to lose track of time in hyperspace — usually he sets up reminders for himself, especially if he’s doing a leg on his own. This trip has been so weird from its very beginning though that he’s completely forgotten.</p>
<p>Only when Bodhi wanders back into the common space, he’s instantly and utterly distracted from his hunger.</p>
<p>In the middle of the room, Luke and Leia are in mirrored handstands. Luke’s loose shirt is slipping down to reveal a section of his pale stomach, a faint trail of blond hair disappearing into his waistband. They’ve each got a halo of floating objects orbiting around their ever so slightly shaking arms.</p>
<p>“Now you move your leg,” Leia orders. “Shift it off center.”</p>
<p>“Okay,” Luke says, voice clearly strained. “And keep the stuff floating?”</p>
<p>“Yes!” Leia responds. “That’s the most important part.”</p>
<p>Luke’s face is flushed from the exertion or maybe the bloodrush. Bodhi’s just standing there, gaping, starting to go red himself he’s sure. Apparently spending months walking across the desert and then teaching teens to staff fight translates to developing strangely transfixing stomach muscles.</p>
<p>Bodhi should definitely be looking away or maybe saying something, like a normal person would, but he can’t quite find his voice.</p>
<p>Bodhi very much wants to reach out and . . . stroke his fingers over Luke’s stomach. The thought startles him so much he backs against the entrance way, banging his elbow and then swearing at the jolt of buzzing pain.</p>
<p>At the same moment, there’s a clattering sound and a thump. When Bodhi looks up, Luke’s little collection of objects are strewn around him and Luke’s hopping up to his feet, shaking his head rapidly, dancing his weight between his feet.</p>
<p>The objects still circulating Leia’s arms slowly and quietly set themselves down in an orderly manner. Then she comes out of her handstand as well, shaking her ponytail and smiling at Bodhi.</p>
<p>“Um,” Bodhi says, rubbing his elbow still, even though the reverberations have mostly ended. “Lunch?” He can hear how high pitched his voice is, because of course it is.</p>
<p>“Yes!” Luke says, immediately whipping around to look at Leia. “Please!” The urgency in his voice makes it more of a plea than an agreement.</p>
<p>Leia laughs and acquiesces easily, saying, “We should probably clean up, then,” and patting Bodhi on the arm on her way out.</p>
<p>Luke swipes at his forehead. “Apparently Jedi are obsessed with sadistic gymnastics,” he says, before gulping down a swig of water from a bottle.</p>
<p>“Oh,” Bodhi says, like an idiot. Luke’s sweat-damp hair looks <em>inviting</em>, like he could bury his fingers there and — “Yeah! Looked . . . difficult,” he finishes lamely.</p>
<p>“I’m definitely making her do staff drills tomorrow,” Luke says, sounding a little sulky. Then he shakes his head. “You want help, with the food?”</p>
<p>He’s walking closer, in his bare feet, and Bodhi’s blood is thrumming. In anticipation, or anxiety, or — desire.</p>
<p>Bodhi wants to press Luke up against the entranceway and kiss him so thoroughly it’d feel like they could almost melt together.</p>
<p>“Bodhi?” Luke asks, waving a hand in front of his face, wearing an amused smile and standing within easy reach. “You here? I said, do you need help?”</p>
<p>Bodhi’s cheeks are so hot he feels like he’s been standing in front of a fire. But Luke’s teasing tone of voice is familiar and just grounding enough that Bodhi can manage a laugh and a wrinkle of his nose and the truth. “Not while you’re all sweaty. Go take a shower first,” he says.</p>
<p>“That’s what I meant,” Luke says, huffing and rolling his eyes, exactly the way he always did when he was a kid and was absolutely certain Bodhi was underestimating his ability to do something potentially life-threatening without hurting himself. The sight eases a tension Bodhi hadn’t even realized was there, even as Luke brushes past him. Their shoulders touch for one electric moment before Luke’s gone.</p>
<p>Bodhi stands there in the entranceway for another moment longer, a little dizzy with this unexpected and not entirely welcome discovery. Realizing in the abstract that Luke’s handsome is a very different thing than realizing he’d enjoy backing Luke up against any convenient bulkhead and kissing him, slipping fingers up under the hem of his shirt. Not at all in the abstract.</p>
<p>And nope, Bodhi has got to stop thinking about that before Luke and Leia come back. Bodhi takes a steadying breath in and walks towards the kitchen. The damning heat in his stomach lingers anyway.</p>
<hr/>
<p>After spending the morning training with Leia, Luke is more than ready for a quieter afternoon activity. They meditate together for a while, both puzzled and intrigued by the differences in how they’ve been taught. There’s similarities — the breath control, the drawing in and stretching out with the Force — and some of what Leia says niggles at Luke with its familiarity, drawing up memories of peeking his eyes open and struggling to sit still beside Ben, the heat of Tatooine stifling around them.</p>
<p>But Jedi traditions seem sparer, with less ritual and fewer instruments. No elaborate painting-maps to visualize, no drifting incense to get softly lost in, no kyber crystals to point the way.</p>
<p>“There might have been more stuff like that, before,” Leia says, shrugging. “I suppose Ben only taught me what we could really do.”</p>
<p>Luke nods, looking at his lap. It’s hard to envy Leia her opportunities when they come so wrapped up in loss and the weight of history.</p>
<p>Luke and the other Guardians his age can never stop being aware that they are the first generation to be taught after a too-long gap; that they have taken up their teaching duties before would be traditional because there are too few of Guardians left after the occupation and the Struggle. Pilgrims visiting the Temple touch at their robes and urge offerings upon them with a kind of awe still, because for years, it seemed like there would never be any new Guardians again. However ordinary and fallible Luke and his cohort may be, they are also a symbol of Jedha’s rebirth.</p>
<p>But at least Luke doesn’t have to shoulder that alone.</p>
<p>“You should come back to Jedha,” Luke says, impetuously. “I mean, when you can. You could come train with us. I mean, not everyone’s Force Sensitive, but it wouldn’t need to be a secret. Everyone already liked you so much.”</p>
<p>Leia smiles softly, her hair spilling over her shoulders like she’s in a painting. “I’d really like that,” she says. “I’ve actually been thinking . . .” she trails off, looking into the distance or her memories. “Would you like to visit Alderaan, some time? It’s very beautiful, in Aldera.” She speaks wistfully. “There are snow-capped mountains everywhere. They look almost blue, in the distance.”</p>
<p>Luke wonders if she gets to go home much these days. He used to daydream about running away, as a little kid, exploring the galaxy, seeing all the things he only saw in pictures. But then he’d come to Jedha and it had felt like the center of everything, the answer to his ever-present restlessness. It still does.</p>
<p>But Luke says, “I’d really like that,” back, because he has a sister, now, and he wants to know the world that made her.</p>
<hr/>
<p>That night, Luke doesn't come by the cockpit as Bodhi's doing his final checks, doesn't knock on the door to Bodhi's quarters while Bodhi's shuffling around getting ready for bed. No sleeping troubles or insomnia-inducing dislocation anymore, apparently. The training with Leia must have exhausted Luke enough that he doesn’t need the reassuring sounds of another person nearby.</p>
<p>Which is good, really. Now Bodhi can get in bed and fall asleep without needing to wrestle down any anxiety about getting too close to Luke's suddenly distracting physique, or having to dispel any mutual embarrassment that might subsequently result. Always better to keep the peace on a long-haul trip, not make any ill-thought-out decisions. There’s no reason at all for Bodhi to feel a tiny twinge of disappointment as he slips under his blankets. So he squashes the feeling down and tumbles into sleep.</p>
<p>In the morning, Bodhi finally connects with Jyn, Cassian, and Kaytoo via holocall. Their little holographic figures are all hunched over, flickering in blue, but still a welcome sight. They’re almost to Cloud City as well.</p>
<p>“So,” Cassian says, crossing his arms. “You’ve landed us in some trouble now. I hear we have an unexpected addition to this delegation.”</p>
<p>“Me?” Bodhi responds. “Trust me, this wasn’t my idea. I was supposed to be <em>on vacation</em>. Now I’m just,” he shakes his head, “trying to keep a princess from blowing up her own diplomatic mission because her family life is like the plot of a terrible holodrama?”</p>
<p>“That is sort of your day job,” Jyn says.</p>
<p>“Helping the Commonwealth enable headstrong royalty is not my job!” Bodhi protests.</p>
<p>“Well, now it’s all of our jobs,” Cassian says, dryly.</p>
<p>“Unfortunately,” Kaytoo concurs. Bodhi’s not sure how a reprogramming involved Kaytoo developing strong anti-monarchy opinions, but it did. The closer they get to this mission’s real beginning, the more inclined Bodhi feels to concur with Kay, no matter how disarmingly kind the princess has turned out to be or how often she’s made Luke laugh.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Bodhi says, staring past their images. Then he shakes his head, remembering the other thing that’s been bothering him. “Why are you all going on this trip, anyway? I know it’s Naboo, but these don’t seem like the kind of talks that’re gonna attract anyone that important.”</p>
<p>Kind of hard to bug or trail any Grand Moffs if they’re not even in the general vicinity.</p>
<p>Cassian raises an eyebrow. “I’m not sure the Ministry of Diplomacy or the entire planet of Alderaan would agree with anyone calling Leia Organa unimportant,” he replies.</p>
<p>“I meant from the Imps,” Bodhi says impatiently. “I mean, that’s usually how it goes at these things. They always matter more to us.”</p>
<p>“Well, the stakes are generally a bit higher for us, what with the lack of Star Destroyers and all,” Jyn says, scrunching her nose.</p>
<p>“They are being pedantic without reason,” Kaytoo interrupts, speaking only to Bodhi. He seems to believe the best way of dealing with organics when they’re (in his opinion) wrong is simply to ignore them and anything they say altogether. “In this case, your logic is sound. But the Empire not caring much about these talks makes them the perfect cover for a visit with a valuable asset on Naboo.”</p>
<p>“Who?” Bodhi asks, leaning in automatically, even though of course it makes no difference over a holocall.</p>
<p>“A woman named Tsabin Belmar,” Cassian says. “She helped train undercover agents for the Rebel Alliance, during the early days of the Empire.”</p>
<p>“Did you know her?” Bodhi asks. He tries not to ask too much about Cassian or Jyn’s strange, shared teenage years, when they were children underfoot amongst Rebellion-turned-Commonwealth spies and scientists, because even the memories they seem to believe are uncomplicatedly happy ones all too often seem to feature secrets and danger.</p>
<p>Jyn shakes her head. “No, that was before they found either of us. She went back to Naboo, some time after Palpatine died. Seemed to think things might be different, with Vader,” Jyn says. “Or that’s how Draven tells it.”</p>
<p>Kay cuts in, “The point is, Belmar was one of Padmé Amidala’s handmaidens, when she was queen of Naboo. She went by the political name Sabé.”</p>
<p>Bodhi sits up with a jolt. Leia’s guardian and Commonwealth Intelligence’s spy are one and the same.</p>
<p>“And for the past decade, Vader has visited her every year, just after Empire Day,” Kaytoo continues.</p>
<p>Empire Day came and went weeks ago, Bodhi knows (how could anyone who grew up on occupied Jedha ever forget the date?). Even so, he feels a jolt of terror reverberate through him.</p>
<p>“Most of the agents who handle any part of her caseload are simply told she and Vader knew each other through Palpatine. But, of course, as <em>you </em>just happened to stumble across,” Kaytoo says, tilting his head sideways, “the real reason is a bit more ridiculous than that.”</p>
<p>“She looks like his dead wife, basically,” Jyn says, her face going blank and sour. “Or that’s my theory, anyway.”</p>
<p>Cassian scrubs a hand over his mouth. “It’s not often we get reports of anything directly about Vader,” he says. “And of course her house and her person get thoroughly searched by Imperial agents before and after Vader comes. So we send agents to debrief her in person, whenever the opportunity arises. Never the same team two years in a row.”</p>
<p>Bodhi rubs at his cheeks, to feel the grain of the stubble there, to combat the fearful dizziness forming. “You know the princess wants to talk to her, too?” he asks.</p>
<p>Cassian sighs, heavily, and Jyn smirks slightly.</p>
<p>“Oh, yes,” she agrees. “It might not be the vacation you were bragging about, but this’ll definitely be interesting.” Her smirk grows, toothy, promising trouble. Jyn adds, “We’ve got your dress uniform with us. You’ll need it. We’re all going to a party.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>Baze and Lian and Chirrut (in his serious moments, at least) have always told Luke that there is no better teacher than repetition, that there is no shortcut around the slow, constant build of experience and exposure.</p>
<p>And frustrating as Luke finds that answer, he’s usually accepted it as truth.</p>
<p>But by that logic, Luke ought to be amazing at dealing with the giddy excitement in his belly every time Bodhi gets close. He’s had this feeling in one form or another since he was nine years old.</p>
<p>Only the pull Luke feels towards Bodhi now is both dizzyingly stronger than ever before, and somehow thrillingly mundane. Luke could sit and watch Bodhi in the cockpit for hours, he thinks, and that would be nearly as good as waking up in his arms again. Because it would be seeing Bodhi, careful and confident and content with himself.</p>
<p>Maybe that’s just the result of the constant proximity after so long without seeing Bodhi in person; or maybe it’s that they’re on Bodhi’s ship, in space, where he’s the same friend Luke’s known half his life, but shaded differently; or maybe it’s just that Luke’s older now, with his First Journey and his first love both behind him now, and the gap between them doesn’t seem so large.</p>
<p>If Luke let himself think too much about it, he’s sure it would overwhelm him, stopper his words and flutter through his bloodstream. So he doesn’t let himself. Or, at least, he tries not to let himself. He’s not exactly succeeding, drifting off too often into daydreams of how soft Bodhi’s hair would be to touch, or what his stubble would feel like pressed to the skin of Luke’s neck.</p>
<p>But having Leia around is a good distraction. She knows so much more about the galaxy than Luke does. But then sometimes she reveals gaps in her life experiences that Luke can barely comprehend.</p>
<p>“You’ve never had instant pemi noodles?” Luke asks, drawing back in shock. “We got those on Tatooine, even.”</p>
<p>Leia shrugs. “Not a staple of the Aldera palace kitchens,” she says, smiling.</p>
<p>“Okay,” Luke decides, “we need to correct that now. That’s what we’ll do for lunch. ‘Cause pemi noodles are <em>great</em>,” he says, getting up to throw open the ship’s small kitchen cabinets. “And on Jedha, they do these local versions with all sorts of flavors — Bodhi’s definitely got some,” he adds, turning back, because he can sense Leia’s doubts about his success on this raid. “He’s obsessed.”</p>
<p>And then sure enough, in a drawer filled with containers of tea sachets and nutritional add-ins, there’s a pile of pemi noodle packets.</p>
<p>“Ha!” Luke says, holding one up in triumph.</p>
<p>“Alright,” Leia says. She offers a lopsided, dubious smile.</p>
<p>“Watch and learn!” Luke declares, boiling water to rehydrate the broth packets. “The important thing is adding in whatever looks good.”</p>
<p>“Uh-huh,” Leia says. She leans against the counter and peers at the packets. “Maybe something with actual nutritional content, then?”</p>
<p>“I mean, if you <em>want</em>,” Luke says with an exaggerated sigh. Luke scavenges the last of the dried mushrooms and herbs, sniffs at a bottle of what he thinks is pickled fela root — “It’s sour but not in a weird way? And it adds crunch,” Luke offers — and throws that in, too.</p>
<p>Finally, Luke tops two out of the three bowls with dehydrated apicea, which was clearly left by someone other than Bodhi and looks like it hasn’t been touched in ages, and dumps a generous amount of the scary looking Mon Calamari hot sauce on the last.</p>
<p>“Only two of us deserve garnish?” Leia asks.</p>
<p>“Oh, Bodhi hates apicea,” Luke says, pulling out utensils. “Says it tastes like leafy dirt. I think something’s wrong with his taste buds.”</p>
<p>In the background, Leia makes a faint, “Mm,” that feels a little amused. Luke decided to interpret that as interest.</p>
<p>“We grow it — I mean the real stuff — back home in our greenhouse,” Luke says, returning to the table. “When Owen cooks, that’s his trick, he just adds some on top of everything, and Beru says it looks like on a cooking show.”</p>
<p>“It is decorative,” Leia offers, looking into her bowl.</p>
<p>Bodhi pokes his head in then, starting to say, “Did I smell —?” but he cuts himself off with a grin that lights up his entire face. It’s the same toothy smile he gets when his favorite racing pilot wins a game, or he’s just revealed a winning hand of cards. Luke feels a fuzz of pleasure envelop him at being the one to put that smile on Bodhi’s face.</p>
<p>“Leia’s never had pemi noodles,” Luke explains, maybe too belatedly. “Sorry for raiding your stash without asking.”</p>
<p>Bodhi shakes his head. “Just as long you made some for me,” he says.</p>
<p>“Oh, there’s a special bowl just for you,” Leia says, pushing it across the table to Bodhi. “Luke made sure of it.”</p>
<p>Bodhi settles down at the table and breathes in deeply, making a little sound of happiness in the back of his throat.</p>
<p>For one ridiculous moment, Luke so vividly pictures himself leaning forward and kissing Bodhi’s cheek that he finds himself poised on the brink of actually doing it.</p>
<p>“Oh, the fela root pickle!” Bodhi says, appearing, thankfully, completely unaware. “I forgot that was still hanging around. It goes really well.”</p>
<p>“Thanks.” Luke laughs, scooting back onto his chair, aftershocks of giddiness thrumming through him. “I added them to the pot myself.”</p>
<p>“Such a culinary master,” Bodhi teases. He feels warm and orange, like the best kind of sunset. Luke wants to savor that, savor him, as much as any beautiful vista or comforting meal.</p>
<p>But it turns out he does have practice in this after all, because instead of tripping over himself like he might have a few years ago, Luke just tips his chin up and proclaims, “I am, yeah.”</p>
<p>Leia laughs, obligingly, and even gets Bodhi to explain the kite competitions during the Air Festival at some length as they eat. Bodhi talks with his hands, eyes bright and engaged. Luke lets himself watch them both. He wants to stretch this moment out, or repeat it in infinite, tiny variations for the rest of his life — sitting here, trading stories with Leia, his sister, the person he’s been searching for all this time without knowing; and Bodhi, who’s been like the bright center of his universe since he was a kid, brilliant and warming and unimpeachably constant.</p>
<p>But of course, there’s no way to capture and pin down a moment. They’re still lingering at the kitchen table on the remnants of their meal, talking about holidays on Alderaan, when Bodhi’s comm beeps and he pushes back his chair.</p>
<p>“We’re coming up on Bespin,” Bodhi says. “I’m going to take us out of hyperspace. Get ready for landing. We should be there in less than a standard hour.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bespin’s a bit of an odd fit for the Commonwealth, a mining planet populated by only a handful of prosperous and politically risk-averse city-states in the sky. But Bodhi’s glad they collectively acceded to the Commonwealth’s courting a few years back. Having Cloud City on his circuit is always a treat.</p><p>“You’re gonna love this place,” Bodhi assures Luke, who’s leaning up towards the front viewport.</p><p>“Wow,” Luke murmurs, so low Bodhi barely catches it. His blue eyes are wide and awed, staring out at the outline of Cloud City emerging before them.</p><p>Bodhi’s chest goes warm with satisfaction as he carefully navigates them over to the designated landing pad. In the midst of setting Monsoon Echo down, he notices the bay doors opening to reveal a man wearing a cape.</p><p>“Huh,” Bodhi says to himself. Usually Monsoon Echo landing in Cloud City doesn’t warrant a personal welcome from Lando Calrissian. Maybe Bodhi ought to have expected it, though, with a princess on board.</p><p>“That’s Lando,” Leia says from behind him, presumably to Luke. “He’s the new Baron-Administrator of Cloud City. The, uh,” her voice takes on an irritated slant, “<em>assets</em> who identified the art and artifact cache we’re recovering on Naboo are friends of his.”</p><p>Bodhi files that tidbit away in the back of his mind. Jyn, Cassian, and Kay only brought him up to speed on the basics — that they owe this Naboo trip to a border-running duo who occasionally work with Commonwealth Intel, and who were more than happy to rat out a cabal of rich Imperials for hoarding stolen art. Or happy to do it for compensation, anyway. It had sounded like pretty standard stuff to Bodhi. But if the border runners are friends of Lando Calrissian, who everyone says is bound to take Bespin’s seat in the Commonwealth Assembly one day, maybe Bodhi’s been underestimating them.</p><p>“But you’ll like Lando, at least,” Leia continues.</p><p>Bodhi’s inclined to agree. Calrissian’s charismatic, undeniably clever, and invested enough in Cloud City’s standing in the Commonwealth that there’s a block of housing reserved for the Commonwealth pilots and dignitaries who pass through on their way elsewhere.</p><p>But today, Bodhi observes with amusement, Calrissian seems particularly determined to charm, sweeping up to Monsoon Echo as Leia disembarks.</p><p>"Ah, your highness." Calrissian bows low, then takes her hand to kiss the back of it. "Always such a pleasure to have you here. You truly do grace us with your presence.”</p><p>Beside Bodhi, Luke shifts his weight from one foot to the other, his lips quirking up at the edges. There’s a clear spark of amusement visible even from behind the loosely curled fist he’s pressing to his mouth. Bodhi feels a strange curl of heat in his stomach that he immediately stomps down, because staring at Luke’s lips is definitely weird.</p><p>"And the daring Lieutenant Rook!" Baron Calrissian says, cutting into Bodhi’s thoughts, and reaching out to clasp Bodhi’s shoulder.</p><p>Bodhi can’t help but smile. Calrissian’s compliments are always so effusive, they almost trick you into believing they’re accurate.</p><p>“Thank you for hosting us,” Bodhi says. “I know there were,” he grasps for an expression, “uh, some last minute changes we sprung on you.”</p><p>“Not at all. Run a city for any amount of time and it becomes essential to learn flexibility,” Calrissian says, smoothing a hand over his moustache. “And certainly, to be considered a reliable resource by Leia Organa is the greatest of compliments, for a man like me.”</p><p>Leia smiles just slightly, like she’s trying not to and failing, and shakes her head. If Bodhi hadn’t spent the last several years learning to look the part of the stock figure in the background, placid and disinterested, he’d be raising his eyebrows just about now.</p><p>“But we’re being rude! Please, introduce me to your delightful companion.” Lando’s gaze is part appraising, part . . . pleased, maybe, when it lands on Luke. Bodhi’s the one shifting now.</p><p>“This is my brother, Luke,” Leia says.</p><p>“I . . . wasn’t aware you had a brother,” Calrissian says, tipping his head in an expression of interest.</p><p>“Neither was I,” Leia says, shortly. But then her smile turns gracious, entirely royal, and she adds, “We only recently discovered that we’re biological siblings. Our mutual surprise notwithstanding, I hope you will extend Luke the same welcome you’ve always been so good as to show the rest of my family.”</p><p>“Of course, your highness,” Lando replies, breaking out his winning grin again. “With pleasure.” He nods at Bodhi and adds, “The rest of the Commonwealth delegation has arrived. I’ve made certain you’ll all be housed with one another. And, as always, Cloud City will gladly provide whatever travel provisions you may require.”</p><p>Bodhi nods back. “Appreciate it,” he says. “I’ll need to re-stock my ship.”</p><p>“Are Captain Solo and Chewbacca here as well?” Leia asks. Her tone turns abruptly brisk as she folds her hands behind her back and very nearly marches towards the sliding door.</p><p>“Ah,” Calrissian says, following closely behind. “I’m afraid they’ve been . . . delayed, slightly.”</p><p>“I would have thought Captain Solo would at least manage to be on time to receive his payment,” Leia says, her boots clicking against the marbled floors as they all enter the white splendor of the city proper. “Since that seems to be what he cares about most in life.”</p><p>Bodhi turns to look over at Luke, wondering if he’s got more insight into how the Crown Princess of Alderaan knows some border-runner well enough to dislike him quite so specifically.</p><p>But Luke’s still several steps behind him, fingers trailing lightly over a wall, staring up a chandelier.</p><p>“ . . . do him a disservice, your highness!” Calrissian continues, his voice starting to fade as he and Leia round a corner.</p><p>“C’mon,” Bodhi says, gesturing to Luke. “Come meet the team.”</p><p>Luke drops his gaze and blinks, his hair glowing like a halo as the clouds move and the sunlight floods in through the viewport behind him. Bodhi feels his lungs go tight.</p><p>“Hmm?” Luke says. “Oh. Yeah. Let’s do that.”</p><p>Bodhi takes an unsteady breath in and nods, plastering a smile on.</p><hr/><p>The first thing Luke sees upon entering the room is the huge Imperial droid. It’s the kind that began haunting Anchorhead when the Imperial troops started pouring in. A cold shock runs down Luke’s spine. Without thinking, Luke steps out in front of Bodhi and Leia, grabbing out for Leia’s wrist with one hand, the other hand reaching out in front of him, ready to call whatever heavy object he can to him.</p><p>“Luke, wait!” Bodhi’s hand claps down on his shoulder, pulling Luke back so his voice is close to Luke’s ear. “That’s Kay! My friend. I’ve told you about him.”</p><p>“Oh,” Luke says, dropping his grip on Leia’s wrist and his outstretched hand, feeling a hot flush of embarrassment race across his cheeks and down his neck.</p><p>Bodhi definitely neglected to specify that his friend Kay was <em>KX Imperial security droid.</em> Though of course that’s presumably the kind of thing Commonwealth Intelligence prefers remain a secret.</p><p>“Sorry! I’m so sorry,” Luke says, stricken as much by the sour expression on the man leaning against the far wall, as he is by the curious head tilt Kay gives him. “Bodhi never said — I mean, uh, I wasn’t expecting . . .”</p><p>“At least you didn’t shoot me,” Kay says. “<em>She </em>tried that once.” He looks down at a brown-haired woman.</p><p>The woman crosses her arms and rolls her frost-blue eyes pointedly. “I did not shoot you.”</p><p>“No, you just shot a droid that you didn’t know for sure wasn’t me.” Kay sniffs. He has a shockingly expressive voice for a droid who surely must have been put together in an Imperial factory.</p><p>Luke smiles, very very tentatively. None of deportment and cultural sensitivity lessons he suffered through as a novice, meant to prepare him to welcome heads of state and sainted religious figures to the Temple, covered smoothing things over after being hideously offensive toward a droid who could have him dead on the floor in seconds.</p><p>“<em>When </em>are you going to stop bringing that up?” the woman asks. “That was five years ago!”</p><p>Bodhi snorts in amusement from behind Luke and then walks up to the woman — she must be Jyn Erso, Luke realizes — and is quickly folded into a hug.</p><p>“You do make quite the first impression, all of you,” Bodhi says, pulling out of her hold only to pat Kay’s chest chassis affectionately. The tall man pushes off the wall to join them, silently clasping Bodhi’s shoulder and nodding.</p><p>Bodhi’s feelings are warm and golden, comfortable. As if he’s pulling on some well-beloved sweater, reuniting with his friends. They’re harder to read (as befits spies, Luke supposes), but they’re glad to see Bodhi, too. That much is clear.</p><p>Luke should be pleased, but instead he feels faintly chilly. The past five days are the most consecutive time he’s spent with Bodhi in years. <em>These </em>are Bodhi’s people now, the people he sees day in and day out. Luke’s persistent, revived daydreams of kissing Bodhi in the cockpit of Monsoon Echo, of holding his hand and pulling him close in some corner of Jedha’s night market seem silly, suddenly. The fantasies of a school boy, staring out a window.</p><p>Leia slips her arm through his own, squeezing slightly. “Captain Andor is one of our most successful Intelligence recruiters,” she says. “Lieutenant Erso here is known for her exceptional talent at getting into and out of very difficult locations. And of course, Kaytoo-Esso is unparalleled at cracking Imperial security.”</p><p>Andor inclines his head to Leia, formal. He respects her, Luke decides. Erso grins, toothy and dangerous, like a predator. Baze would like her. Kaytoo-Esso leans down, looking almost curiously at Luke.</p><p>“You’re shorter than I expected,” Kay declares.</p><p>“Uh,” Luke says, caught off guard.</p><p>“Bodhi made it sound like you were always climbing on top of things. So I thought you’d be taller. I hear it helps, with humans,” Kay says.</p><p>Luke nods, probably for too long. “Yeah, I hear that, too,” he agrees.</p><p>Jyn gives a brief huff of laughter and then turns to Bodhi, saying, “We brought your stuff.” She nods towards some luggage that Bodhi immediately opens and starts rifling through.</p><p>“Please tell me you got someone to open the door and you didn’t just slice the lock again,” Bodhi says, as he checks through a stack of uniform jackets.</p><p>Luke blinks, for lack of a better reaction.</p><p>“Why don’t we sit?” Leia proposes, her face tilted up so her suggestion is quiet, between only the two of them.</p><p>“Yeah,” Luke agrees under his breath, trusting that Leia will understand him anyway. “Let’s do that.”</p><hr/><p>Cassian, of course, wants to run through the plan the moment they’re all settled, sitting around in the sumptuous and sparkling clean common area that their rooms surround. Bodhi stifles a chagrined smile — even here in Cloud City, a trove of amusements, Cassian can’t relax — and meets Jyn’s eyes behind Cassian’s back. Jyn pulls a face. She’d rather be swapping gossip with the independent spacers and flitting through the art galleries, which Bodhi doesn’t fault her for. Cloud City attracts card players who know tricks Bodhi’d like to learn. More than that, he’d been hoping to take Luke for a trawl through the food courts, before they got down to business.</p><p>“We brought the credits promised to Captain Solo and Chewbacca,” Cassian informs Leia. Another person — a sensible person, maybe — might have been intimidated, but Leia merely nods.</p><p>“Good. I thought they would be safer with you,” Leia says.</p><p>“Mm.” Cassian gives a short, evocative hum and looks down at his datapad.</p><p>Bodhi supposes he might as well be grateful Leia hadn’t also secreted away the reward credits on his ship. Accidental theft on top of accidental kidnapping might have been too much for the Fleet and Bodhi really likes his job.</p><p>“Lando informs me that Captain Solo and Chewbacca will be here this evening,” Leia continues on. “He’s invited us all to dinner. I imagine we can give them the credits there.”</p><p>Bodhi definitely missed that part of the conversation. He wonders idly what the dining room of a Baron-Administrator looks like.</p><p>Jyn, too, raises her eyebrows slightly, the beginnings of a smirk flitting across her face. “An invitation to dine with the Baron-Administrator! We don’t usually get one of those, do we, Kay?”</p><p>“No,” Kay agrees. “But then again, I don’t eat.”</p><p>Cassian eventually manages to get them all back on track, explaining their cover identities — he and Jyn will be diplomatic security officers, assigned to accompany Leia, and Luke will be an assistant from the Ministry of Diplomacy, fresh out of the academy. Kay, of course, officially won’t exist, though he should blend in easily enough in Theed, which is filled with Imperial officers and their retinues. Bodhi needs no cover, because he’s going to be exactly what he is: a diplomatic transport pilot. Cassian distributes the false scandocs to the rest.</p><p>Bodhi usually finds Cassian’s pre-mission briefings strangely reassuring. Today, though, his eyes keep sliding over to Luke, who’s travel-pale and uncharacteristically quiet, tracing a thumb over his forged identification. They should go get caf from the Chandrilan vendor on the third level, Bodhi thinks. Maybe Luke’s got a touch of atmosphere adjustment sickness. The rest of them are used to atmosphere hopping, but this is new for Luke, hardy though he may be.</p><p>But Cassian wants to talk about the route they’ll take once they get across the border, and by the time they’re done, Luke and Leia have long left, retreating together.</p><hr/><p>Luke follows Leia out of the common room in the suite, blindly depending on her familiarity with the space. He hadn’t paid attention coming in, too awed by the architecture and the views.</p><p>“You should rest, before dinner,” Leia suggests. "It's been a long day and I'm sure dinner will be aggravating, since Captain Solo will be there. The food will be good, though. I'm not sure how a mining town attracts chefs of such quality, but I’m certainly not going to complain."</p><p>Luke nods, only half hearing. The backs of his eyes ache.</p><p>Leia shifts between her feet and then sits at the edge of the bed, patting the spot besides her.</p><p>Luke sits, spreading his fingers over the puffy clouds of blanket, letting himself slouch.</p><p>"I've known Captain Andor for a few years now, and at least on that front, I don't think there's anything going with Bodhi," Leia says.</p><p>Luke chokes and rears back, staring at his sister. She squeezes his hand. Her desire to comfort is soft and enclosing. But Luke’s still trying to push through his horrified embarrassment and can’t quite be grateful.</p><p>"He's very . . . focused. I'm not sure having a romantic relationship with more than one person would ever even occur to him," Leia continues. "He and Erso have been a unit for years. And as far I know, she —"</p><p>"I just have a headache," Luke cuts in, a desperate bid to cut off this terrible conversation. “I wasn’t thinking about <em>that</em>.”</p><p>Leia raises her eyebrows. Luke fights to pull back up his mental shields, something he's never had much natural talent at. And of course it won't help as much as he's used to — Leia is better at mind reading than anyone Luke has ever met, even discounting the way their Force presences are so innately inclined to synch up, to flow together.</p><p>"Okay, yeah. I was bothered," Luke admits, because it's no use trying to lie. "But I guess it was more . . . realizing how little I actually know about Bodhi anymore. I mean, what he really does these days. I didn't want to think of him as someone else keeping things from me." Luke scratches at his thigh, flushing. "I know it's his job. I know he was supposed to keep what his friends actually do secret. But I just wish," Luke swallows, feeling an ache in his throat starting to form despite his best efforts, "that so many of the people I love hadn't lied to me so much."</p><p>Leia puts her arm around him immediately, dropping her head onto his shoulder, heedless of her beautiful crown of braids. Luke feels a fierce, embracing warmth from her, mellowed by empathy.</p><p>"I know exactly what you mean," Leia says.</p><p>Luke relaxes into the hug, tentatively resting his cheek against Leia’s head.</p><p>"For what it’s worth, I can’t imagine Bodhi enjoyed keeping things from you. He obviously cares a lot about you.” She pauses for a long moment and then finally adds, “He’s very protective of you.”</p><p>Luke feels a little flutter of — not hope, really, but <em>wishing</em>, even now. “It’s just that he’s known me since I was a kid,” he says though, shaking the sensation away. “He feels responsible, I guess.”</p><p>Leia sets her mouth into a considering line and says, “Maybe.” Then she pushes at Luke’s shoulder and says, “Come on, clean up and then get some rest before dinner. You’ll need your wits to deal with Solo.”</p><p>Luke levers himself off the bed, wondering in the back of his mind if this is one of those places where they have water showers, and asks, “Why? Do you not trust him? You think he’s playing both sides off or something?”</p><p>“Nothing that sinister,” Leia says with a grin. “He’d make a terrible spy and he’s certainly no crime lord. No, I meant because he’s so irritating. You’ll need all the self-restraint you can muster.”</p><hr/><p>The Baron-Administrator’s dining room is just as nice as Bodhi would have guessed. All white, because Cloud City’s administrative levels are nothing if not built with a consistent vision, and accented with local art and a breath-taking view.</p><p>“Ah, welcome,” Calrissian says, beckoning them in with a blinding grin. “How wonderful to have so many farflung friends in the same place.”</p><p>He isn’t wearing a cape today, which faintly surprises Bodhi, but maybe capes aren’t appropriate dinner attire on Cloud City. Calrissian is, however, wearing a brilliant mustard yellow shirt that probably sells for more than half the engine parts in Monsoon Echo put together.</p><p>The other guests are there already. The unmistakably imposing Wookiee — “Chewbacca, an old, dear friend,” Calrissian says with affection — catches Bodhi’s eye first. He’s hard to miss. He towers, even beneath the high ceilings of Cloud City. Bodhi knows he shouldn’t stare, but finds it hard to resist. Wookies are a rare sight in the Commonwealth. Kashyyyk is still Imperial territory, though Force knows the Empire is at best indifferent to Wookiees and at worst only too pleased to use them as prison labor.</p><p>“So good of you to finally join us, Captain Solo,” Leia says tartly, her barbed tone directed at the human man standing besides Chewbacca. “How lovely to discover your sense of punctuality is as idiosyncratic as your hyperdrive.”</p><p>“Always so nice to see those two getting along,” Calrissian murmurs out of the side of his mouth, before smiling and saying, “Please, do come sit. The chef and xer staff have truly outdone themselves today.”</p><p>Solo snorts and folds his arms together. “You think that’s an insult? As I remember it, the Falcon’s kept you alive and out of Imperial clutches pretty handily a time or two!”</p><p>Cassian covers his face with a hand, despairingly.</p><p>Chewbacca roars something, which Kay nods back at. Bodhi wishes he’d brought a translator, or bothered to learn Shyriiwook, back in school. It hadn’t seemed like a skill he’d really need, even as a diplomatic pilot, but that assumption seems to have been a failure of imagination.</p><p>“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Luke adds, coming up to the table next to Leia and smiling at Chewbacca in a sort of braced way. “Thank you for helping with artifacts. It’ll mean a lot, to get to bring them back to the Temple.”</p><p>Bodhi scratches at his shoulder and blinks. Since when does Luke understand Shyriiwook?</p><p>Jyn raises her eyebrows at him significantly, like she’s walking into a firefight. Then she takes a seat at the table. Bodhi follows, a half step behind.</p><p>Leia and Captain Solo are still bickering across the table at each other, though at Lando’s gesture, they both at least deign to sit and sling their strangely flirtatious barbs at each other that way. It’s like they learned courting rituals from a pair of grumpy spamels.</p><p>“We all got jobs, your worshipfulness,” Solo says, gesticulating, then leaning out of the way so the poor server can fill his wine glass.</p><p>“Some of which actually contribute to the welfare of the galaxy,” Leia retorts. “Honestly, with your skills, and Chewie’s experience, you could be doing a hell of a lot more! I don’t understand why you won’t even consider the offer from Commonwealth Intelligence.”</p><p>The server rounds the end of the table, giving Jyn a particularly full glass of wine at her indication and wagging his headfeathers in sympathy. After the server reaches him, Bodhi sniffs at his own glass. The wine is bubbly and a pale, inviting pink.</p><p>“None for me, thank you,” Luke says beside him, though his gaze is wistful, resting on Bodhi’s glass. With all the poetry that gets recited in the Temple courtyards about how little separates intoxication and transcendent experiences of the Force, Bodhi thinks, it seems unfair that Guardians must follow strict prohibitions against imbibing any intoxicants themselves.</p><p>But the server merely reaches over to the small table behind him, showing a flash of his downier underfeathers, to pull a different bottle of some almost shimmery turquoise liquid. He leans down to murmur, “Non-alcoholic. You will enjoy it. It pairs well with the sasheen fish.”</p><p>“Oh,” Luke says, smiling up at the server. “Sure, thank you.”</p><p>Bodhi smiles at Luke, tipping his chin up affectionately.</p><p>Luke shrugs. “Might as well as try new things, right?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Bodhi agrees. “You should.”</p><hr/><p>Leia had inspected Luke’s civilian clothes on the way to Cloud City and instantly rejected them all, never mind that they were the best things Luke had been able to scrounge up that fit him.</p><p>“Naboo takes fashion very seriously, and they know we’d know that. If a Ministry of Diplomacy representative came to any talks, much less a function, dressed like this, they’d take it as an insult,” Leia had informed him.</p><p>“The only clothes I’ve even worn for the past two years are Guardian’s robes!” Luke said, shrugging helplessly. “We only collect other clothes to distribute to shelters and pilgrim’s outposts, and we’d just done a drop-off. There wasn’t a lot to pick from!”</p><p>“Never mind. We’ll get you new clothes in Cloud City. I’ll need some as well, and Cloud City’s a good place for that,” Leia decided.</p><p>A hint of sweat had gathered at the back of Luke’s neck as he thought of how expensive the kind of clothes diplomats wear must be. He’d started to say, “I’m not really supposed to <em>buy </em>—”</p><p>But Leia held up a hand, smiling slightly, and pre-empted him with, “They’ll be a gift from me to my brother, which can be recycled when you return home.”</p><p>“You’re very good at getting around rules, aren’t you?” Luke had asked.</p><p>In response, Leia had only grinned, broadly.</p><p>And that’s how Luke finds himself here, sitting in the common room of their Cloud City suite, waiting for someone to arrive with fancy new clothes for him and Leia to select from.</p><p>Luke likes clothes, understands their power (what are his robes, but a symbol, after all?). But he’s looked up Naboo fashion since talking to Leia. All he can think is that he hopes his mother’s spirit forgives the way an instant, heavy weariness had settled over him just from looking at the pictures. Every single outfit he’d seen involved at least four or five unnecessary and prohibiting pieces, as far as Luke could tell.</p><p>He’s startled out of his thoughts though when a caped figure sweeps into their suite.</p><p>“My apologies for the delay,” Lando says, offering Leia a theatrical bow and Luke a friendly clap on the shoulder, accompanied by a toothy smile. “The business of the city never ends. You know how it is.”</p><p>Luke turns to look at Leia in askance, because he’d very much like to know why Lando is here. He’d rather not have witnesses to what will no doubt be an awkward parade of choices.</p><p>“Oh, yes, Lando volunteered to help,” Leia says easily, as if dragging the Baron-Administrator of an entire city-state off duty to help Luke buy clothes is a normal, non-embarrassing thing. “He does know Cloud City’s establishments better than anyone.”</p><p>Luke must not be doing a very good job hiding his feelings on the matter because Lando throws his head back and laughs.</p><p>“Ah, there’s no need for that,” Lando says. “I happen to quite enjoy the art of putting together a good outfit,” he leans in with a grin, “as you may have deduced by now.”</p><p>Luke chuckles himself. There’s no denying that Lando looks striking, with his flowing ochre tunic and blue cape complementing one another.</p><p>“Better,” Lando declares. “Now, a little atelier on our second level has just the sort of thing that would be perfect for spring in Theed, so I’ve asked them to bring up some options for each of you.”</p><p>Bodhi comes out of his quarters just then, holding a datapad and tucking a stylus behind his ear. He raises his eyebrows quizzically but somehow misses Luke’s telepathetic plea for help.</p><p>“I’m going down to the landing bay to oversee the supply on-loading,” Bodhi says, weaving around an incoming Mon Calamari woman and a protocol droid, who are accompanied by floating clothing racks weighed down with colorful outfits. “I’ll see you all later.”</p><p>Luke waves, and then squares his shoulders. Leia is already perusing one of the racks, filled with structured gowns and flowing jumpsuits and crisp jacket and trouser pairings. “These are lovely,” she says, fingering the satiny fabric of a forest green dress and nodding her appreciation to the designers.</p><p>“Let’s get started with you, shall we?” Lando proposes.</p><p>Luke nods, already overwhelmed by the options. “Sure,” he says, setting his shoulders. He’s walked halfway across a moon and back. He can handle clothes.</p><p>“This,” Lando promises, grinning crisply, “will be very enjoyable.”</p><hr/><p>Bodhi checks his list one final time, pats a storage container, and heads out of Monsoon Echo’s storage room. It settles something in his stomach to see it filled with stacks of refrigerated containers and Jyn, Cassian, and Kay’s arsenal, carefully stowed. Setting off from Jedha towards Imperial space with so few supplies, without even stocking up at the local Commonwealth military base had felt wrong, no matter that there was a plan in place. Now, his ship looks the way it should, precisely and carefully prepared to sustain its passengers through their journey.</p><p>Bodhi thanks the ground crew, shaking hands and trying to impress their names into his mind (it does pay, he’s found, to leave a good impression — it’s so <em>nice </em>to open a fridge container and not find anything bruised).</p><p>Bodhi’s thinking about their departure, scheduled for two days from now, and the route he’ll take to the border as he wanders back into the guest suite they’ve been put up in. He’s not at all prepared to be startled out of his thoughts by a vision in pale blue and sparkling gold. The light’s streaming in through the large windows bathing everyone a beautiful sunset hue.</p><p>But there’s only one person making Bodhi’s throat feel oddly tight.</p><p>Luke’s wearing some high collared tunic, the color of the best kind of morning sky, open and cloudless and filled with the promise of adventure. It matches Luke’s eyes. The stark lines of the tunic and the gold embroidery lining the hems — curling Jedhan patterns of desert flowers — drag Bodhi’s eyes down, to where the tunic parts in wide triangles just above Luke’s knees, revealing close-cut light pants and shining, oddly practical boots.</p><p>Bodhi’s stomach flips. He wants to untie the tunic just enough to loosen Luke’s high collar and reveal the soft skin of his throat. He wants to leave a kiss just there, then carefully do the ties back up. So he could seal the kiss against Luke’s skin, and know it lingered just beneath the stiff fabric. A promise of more to come.</p><p>“Ah, Rook!” Calrissian says, clapping his hands on Luke’s shoulders. “You’ve seen enough of these things. Weigh in for us, will you? This will work perfectly for a diplomatic delegation at a fancy Imperial party, don’t you think?”</p><p>“It’s actually a local lantern festival,” Leia says.</p><p>Luke fidgets.</p><p>“Yeah,” Bodhi finally manages, swallowing hard. “You’ll fit right in.”</p><p>“Okay.” Luke nods, letting out a sigh. “So that’s done, then.” He smiles and gives Calrissian, the Mon Calamari woman, and the protocol droid all an encompassing nod. “Thank you. It’s lovely. All of it is,” he gestures behind him. “I didn’t mean to eat up so much of your day.”</p><p>Bodhi feels a sort of cold shock down his spine at the thoughts of days’ worth of outfits like this one. It was disconcerting enough to see Luke in his Guardian’s robes the first time, worse to catch sight of his bare stomach. Luke walking around like he stepped out of a painting moments before might fry Bodhi’s brain completely, if the last few minutes are any indication.</p><p>“Nonsense. You’re a pleasure to dress,” Calrissian says with a wink — and what Bodhi feels is an overly appreciative once-over of Luke.</p><p>Bodhi turns sharply on the ball of his foot and chooses a strategic retreat. The moment the bedroom door slides shut behind him, Bodhi collapses face down on his bed, feet hanging off the end. Just about everything has gone weird since Leia Organa stowed away on his ship and Bodhi would like that to stop happening. Bodhi kicks off his boots and scoots up his bed, settling in to wallow because surely he deserves it.</p><p>Only not long after that, there’s a knock at the door. Bodhi contemplates ignoring it, but he is on a mission. So instead he takes a deep breath in, heaves himself up, and presses the button to open the door.</p><p>Luke’s face is bright pink and his ears have gone red (and yet he still, somehow, looks cuttingly handsome, the kind of boy who belongs on an airy balcony where the wind could come kiss his hair).</p><p>“I can’t figure out how to get out of these clothes,” he hisses. “Help me!”</p><p>“How did you get <em>in</em> them, then?” Bodhi asks, gripping the doorframe, not at all sure he wants to hear the answer.</p><p>“Vee-Three, the droid? She helped, but she did everything so fast I didn't even really see what she did," Luke says, his blue eyes wide and faintly panicked. “And I’m worried if I keep trying, I’ll just rip them.”</p><p>Bodhi blinks, suddenly confronted with the possibility of actually loosening Luke’s tunic.</p><p>“You gotta help me, Bodhi, come on,” Luke says, shuffling his way past Bodhi into the bedroom.</p><p>Bodhi oh-so-briefly considers the alternative of Luke asking someone else for help, finds he very much doesn’t enjoy that idea at all, and then shoves down the question of why immediately. He’s quite certain that’s a twisted alley he doesn’t want to wander down this evening.</p><p>Between them, they figure out the cloth ties on outside of the tunic are largely decorative, and the outer fold is actually held in place by a series of tiny hooks and catches. Bodhi works his way down, concentrating on the task, unable to meet Luke’s eye. There’s a filmy, almost translucent white undershirt beneath the tunic.</p><p>“There,” Bodhi says, stepping back, when he gets the last hook and the tunic falls open.</p><p>Luke shrugs out of it immediately, letting it drop. Bodhi picks the tunic up before it can fully crumple to the floor, the fabric light but strong between his fingers. It’s good work. Even his mother, with her tailor’s eye, would say so.</p><p>But then Luke starts attacking the tiny buttons on the filmy undershirt, eyebrows drawn together.</p><p>“We should be careful with this stuff,” Bodhi chokes out, turning away, clutching the tunic in his hand and folding it.</p><p>The task is finished too quickly, though, and Luke’s making a frustrated noise again. When Bodhi turns back, Luke’s managed to get his shirt unbuttoned down nearly to his stomach, so the translucent sleeves slip down his arms to reveal his pale shoulders, the top of his chest.</p><p>Bodhi suddenly, badly wants to bite at Luke’s collarbone. Gently though, as a precursor to kissing his way down Luke’s sternum. Would Luke like that, the edge of teeth, or the tickle of blinking eyelashes skirting down his chest, warm hands gripping at his ribs?</p><p>Bodhi curls his fingers into his palms. This is terrible, and ridiculous, and definitely not an appropriate thing to be thinking about his little neighbor who he had to hold back from fist fights as a kid. It’s hard to get that thought to stick, though, when balanced against it are the months of letters sent from across Jedha cluttering up Bodhi’s personal datapad, and the quiet, casual way Luke keeps breaking out skills Bodhi didn’t know he had. And also, most distressingly right now, the sight of his half-naked chest.</p><p>“I think I’m tangled,” Luke says mournfully, looking up at Bodhi. He folds his lips together and grimaces. “Can you get the bottom?”</p><p>Bodhi just nods, not trusting his voice not to break or his mouth to circumvent his sense, if he tries to speak. He just concentrates on keeping his hands as steady as he can, as he reaches out for the hem of the silk shirt. This is just a little hand-eye coordination. The thing Bodhi’s best at. Bodhi stares down at the buttons, trying to see them only as the complex puzzle Luke’s treating them as — they’re small and hidden but thankfully the shirt is loose enough that Bodhi’s fingers barely brush the warm skin of Luke’s abdomen. Then it’s done. Bodhi lets the fabric slip out of his hands.</p><p>Bodhi steps back, and sneaks a look up.</p><p>Luke’s cheeks are a little pink again. Bodhi wonders, just for a moment, whether they’d be flush-warm if he reached out and cupped them to draw Luke in for a kiss.</p><p>“Thanks,” Luke mumbles, sliding the shirt off, so that it slumps softly in a puddle on Bodhi’s bed.</p><p>Bodhi’s caught by the sight of it, the un-neatened intimacy of it. As if Luke’s discarded clothes have an unthinking place across Bodhi’s blankets. And Force, if there isn’t some part of Bodhi that likes the thought of that (if only it were a different shirt, a different bed, a different year, maybe).</p><p>But then Luke blows air out of his nose, like an irritated animal. Bodhi looks up again, despite himself, out of reverie. It’s a mistake. Luke’s staring down at the waistband of his pants like they’re the last leg of some grueling obstacle course.</p><p>“I can figure them out myself,” he says, somehow determined and doubtful at the same time.</p><p>Bodhi hopes Luke’s right, for the sake of his own sanity. If he helps Luke slide those trousers down his legs, it might just break something in him. What he can see now — the hint of Luke’s hip bones above his waistband, the outline of his honed thighs in those tight-fitting trousers — is already making the back of Bodhi’s neck go hot. The close proximity to Bodhi’s bed only makes everything worse.</p><p>“Start with the boots, probably?” Bodhi offers, tearing his gaze away and just barely keeping himself from stammering as if he’s all of sixteen again.</p><p>Luke levels him with an unimpressed look. “Wow, super helpful,” he says dryly, though he bends to shuck off his boots nevertheless.</p><p>Bodhi takes the opportunity to flee. “I’ll, uh,” he casts around and lands on what he suddenly realizes is a very, very important task for his own peace of mind, “go get you your clothes to change into.”</p><p>When he comes back, he carefully keeps his eyes averted. Luke takes the outheld robes and turns around. Bodhi sees his bare feet moving for a moment before looking away.</p><p>“Thanks,” Luke says a short time later, touching Bodhi’s upper arm. His robes are tied a little looser than usual, like he’d been hurrying. There’s a hint of his collarbones visible, painted with a lingering flush of embarrassment, the same way his cheeks are. “Who knew clothes could be so much trouble?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Bodhi says, his agreement far more fervent than he allows his voice to express.</p><hr/><p>Luke tosses and turns in his uncomfortably luxurious bed that night. His brain helpfully reminds him how mortifying the whole ordeal with the clothes had been, and replays the itchy feeling of Bodhi’s discomfort crawling up his arms. But what’s done is done. And it’s hardly as if there was anyone else Luke could have reasonably gone to.</p><p>There was Leia, of course, who would have helped without question and perhaps even without teasing. Luke hadn’t wanted to reveal himself quite so clearly as some fumbling farm kid utterly overwhelmed by Leia’s circles upon circles of politics and intrigue and culture, though. Anyone else was absolutely out of the question.</p><p>Bodhi’s familiar and suffering through the embarrassment of Bodhi noticing Luke’s flustered reactions to his proximity is (unfortunately) also familiar for Luke. And yet it’s still awful, Luke reflects, staring up at the ceiling in the dark. The memory of Bodhi’s flustered discomfort prickles at the back of his neck like heat rash.</p><p>Luke huffs a sigh and flops over into a different position, trying to get comfortable. Eventually, he drifts off into a strange, dream-filled sleep, lulled by fluffy pillows and soft ambient noise of the city.</p><p>In the morning, Luke sits down heavily at the breakfast table, only reluctantly and resentfully awake and unable to keep from scowling.</p><p>Bodhi darts his eyes at him, like a wary bird about to launch itself off a branch. “Tea?” he asks, thrusting a mug at Luke.</p><p>If there’s one thing Jedhans and Luke’s Great-Aunt Ozmay share, it’s an absolute belief that tea should be the beginning of every day and is the route to solving any problem.</p><p>Luke takes the mug and the offered out that comes with it. Shoves down his disappointed embarrassment. “Sure,” he says. “Thanks.”</p><p>After that, Luke lets himself be distracted by a tour of Cloud City’s moisture capture and water recycling system. Lando had proposed it yesterday after learning Luke had grown up on a moisture farm. He had seemed so genuinely pleased to have the chance to show it off that Luke hadn’t had the heart to decline.</p><p>Just after Luke returns, Jyn spirits Bodhi away for a last minute travel snacks haul, eyes gleaming in a way that leaves Luke a little concerned.</p><p>Luke tries to meditate after that. He catches his mind carting him off down distracting roads too often for the experience to be truly settling, though.</p><p>Faced with an empty evening and a desire not to be alone with his thoughts, Luke goes to find Leia. When he enters her room, she’s sitting in front of a mirror, wearing a deep purple jumpsuit and pinning her hair up into some kind of intricate bun.</p><p>“You look nice,” Luke offers, lingering in the doorway. She does look like Padmé Amidala, he thinks. Sometimes it’s hard to see, when most of the holos of Amidala that survive in the Commonwealth archives are of a solemn child-queen or a stony-eyed senator, fighting for a losing cause. Leia, by contrast, is quick to frown or smile, announcing her moods clearly. “How come you’re all dressed up?”</p><p>“Oh,” Leia says, finishing with her hair and batting away his compliment. “This is hardly dressed up. You’ll see when you visit court on Alderaan. Or just about anywhere in Theed. Will you get the clasp, please?” she asks, holding up a necklace.</p><p>Luke does as asked, still waiting curiously to hear where Leia’s off to.</p><p>“I’m having dinner with Lando,” Leia says lightly, answering Luke’s unspoken question. Despite her attempts to smooth over her Force presence, Luke can feel her spark of pleased anticipation.</p><p>“Oh?” Luke asks, not quite suppressing an amused smile. “That sounds fun.”</p><p>Leia slips on a set of delicate silver rings then stands, saying only, “He does have an excellent household chef.” Pulling on a light shawl, Leia adds, “I can feel you thinking, you know. It’s strictly a dinner among friends. Besides,” she rolls her eyes, “Captain Solo will be there. He’s always Lando’s guest when he comes to Cloud City, so I suppose it couldn’t be avoided.”</p><p>But despite her outward irritation, Leia doesn’t feel all that put out. If anything, she seems to be looking forward to the inevitable debate.</p><p>Luke narrows his eyes, probing. “I don’t think you actually dislike Han as much as you make out,” he says.</p><p>“I <em>suppose </em>he has his moments,” Leia says, meeting Luke’s eyes, her own sparkling with mischief.</p><p>Luke laughs. “Then I guess I hope that happens tonight.”</p><p>“As do I,” Leia replies. Then she sobers. “Will you mind being on your own for the evening? You seem . . .” she draws her lips together, “a little unsettled.”</p><p>Luke rolls his shoulders back, blinking. She’s right, of course, but he’s not used to other people pinpointing his emotions in the same way he can with other people.</p><p>“Yeah,” Luke admits, slowly. “I guess I have been.” He bites his lip — he wants to say more, but also he doesn’t.</p><p>Leia takes his hand and squeezes it. “Come to dinner with me,” she proposes. “Lando would be happy to have you.”</p><p>Warm affection bubbles up in Luke’s chest. “I wouldn’t want to get in the way,” he teases.</p><p>Leia, though, just shakes her head at him. “There’s nothing to get in the way of,” she says. She raises her eyebrows, pushing the question through their connection this time.</p><p>“Go, have fun,” Luke says, shooing her towards the door. “You’re the one who’s going to be working this whole trip.”</p><p>Luke tastes the faint acidity of Leia’s lingering concern, but with just one backward glance, she heads out.</p><p>Luke settles himself in the common room, opening his datapad to the section of Teacher Naleena’s lectures that he was supposed to discussing with Asu-Di’s class of older novices this week. This part’s never been a strength of his — there’s a reason he teaches staff fighting and not the history or ethics of the Guardians and the Temple — but Naleena was an empath and so Luke’s always felt a certain affinity for her. He likes to think they’ve built a sort of cross-temporal understanding, after his years of leaving his spare alms coins below her statue at the roadside sanctuary behind the farm.</p><p>But by the time the door opens, startling Luke, he’s long since stopped reading and slipped into wondering what everyone back home is doing right now.</p><p>“Oh,” Luke says, his stomach jumping, as Bodhi enters the room. “You’re back!”</p><p>“I escaped, yeah,” Bodhi says, with a tentative smile, as he sits down on the couch as well. “Just gonna have to hope the border guards believe the extra weight in the storage hold’s because of Jyn’s snack run.”</p><p>Luke laughs automatically, without really meaning to, tracing a finger over the top of his datapad. Bodhi’s responding smile brings out faint laughter lines at the corners of his eyes. They’re new, or maybe Luke’s just never noticed before, unlikely as that sounds. They suit his face.</p><p>In the long golden light of the late afternoon, sporting messy hair and a faint shadow of stubble on his face, Bodhi looks beautiful, of course. As he always does. And despite his own lingering, festering embarrassment, Luke notices, as he always does.</p><p>Because Luke <em>loves </em>Bodhi. The thought forms and then solidifies, impossible to ignore or deny. The reason he’s felt so in disarray all day is because this isn’t just the same, familiar unrequited crush after all.</p><p>Of course he’s in love with Bodhi. He’s been in a little in love with Bodhi since the day they first met, when Luke was a disoriented kid filled with an inexplicable longing and Bodhi was the neighbor-boy with wide, expressive eyes and a quiet smile, who lead Luke right up to the answers and changed his life.</p><p>The love’s been there all along, waiting for the opportunity to bloom. Its roots were already steady and strong, nourished by a decade of memories.</p><p>Luke stares in front of himself, unseeing, feeling the Force swirl around and through him.</p><p>Then something pokes him in the ankle. Luke blinks and finds Bodhi looking at him, eyes narrowed slightly as he retracts his foot from by Luke’s ankle.</p><p>“You alright?” Bodhi asks. “You look a little . . . weird.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Luke says, blinking, pulling his feelings back in instinctively, straightening up his spine. “I’m, um, I’m okay.”</p><p>Bodhi keeps looking at him, though, eyes fixed on Luke’s face like he doesn’t quite believe Luke’s assurances.</p><p>“Okay,” Bodhi finally says, slowly. “If you say so.” He looks down at his hands for a moment and then glances up again, face cleared. “You eaten yet?”</p><p>Luke shakes his head.</p><p>Bodhi taps out a staccato rhythm on his thigh and says, “There’s a food hall on the third level. D’you wanna go?”</p><p>Luke hesitates. Part of him would like to be alone to sort through this realization. But the part of him that wants Bodhi and Bodhi's attention, the greater part, of course still jumps at the invitation.</p><p>“It’s fun,” Bodhi says, leaning in, over his pulled up knees. “You ought to see it before we go. And there’s plenty of sweet things you could try.”</p><p>Bodhi seems almost nervous. The sort of jitteriness Luke gets after too much caf rolls off him. It’s like this morning, Luke realizes — Bodhi plying him with tea and now sweets, like when Luke was a kid and Bodhi was trying to coax him out of a sulk over some difficult test or argument with Owen. Bodhi’s no telepath, which Luke is beyond thankful for at the moment. But he’s always been observant and he’s always been kind.</p><p>Bodhi might not want him, might not love Luke the way Luke loves him, but half a lifetime of friendship isn’t something to just throw away either.</p><p>“Sure,” Luke says. “Sweet things sound good.”</p><p>Bodhi laughs, an edge of relief evident, and gets up. “Yeah, I thought you might like that.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They board Monsoon Echo early in the morning Bespin time, while the clouds are still pink-gold around them. As much as Bodhi enjoys Cloud City, he likes the purpose and familiarity of being in the pilot’s seat even better. Bodhi can’t shake his misgivings about going to Naboo with two Force Sensitive people who are also Vader’s biological children. But at least for a little while, at least while they’re en route, the problems they’ll face are all ones Bodhi’s prepared for, that he can handle.</p>
<p>Well, maybe not all.</p>
<p>Luke’s quiet as he walks up the boarding ramp, gaze loosely directed towards the floor, a hand grabbing at one of his travel pack’s shoulder straps. He looks as if his mind is light-years away from here, from his body. Bodhi searches for something that might make Luke smile, might pull him back to the present.</p>
<p>“Do you want to come up and sit in the cockpit?” Bodhi blurts out, for lack of any more inspired choices. “The take-off’s really pretty.”</p>
<p>A few days ago an invitation wouldn’t have felt necessary, he thinks. On the way to Bespin, there would have been no question of Luke missing the view or the pleasure of witnessing the lift-off.</p>
<p>But Luke had been strangely preoccupied yesterday, too, staring off into space. His mood had seemed to lift a little when they’d gone to explore the food hall, thanks to all the farflung delicacies available and maybe — hopefully — Bodhi's chatter as well.</p>
<p>The change doesn’t seem to have lasted, though. Bodhi wants to know what’s troubling Luke but he’s sort of afraid to ask. There’s no shortage of terrible revelations or frightening potential futures that Luke might be contemplating.</p>
<p>Luke blinks. “Oh, um,” he says. His eyebrows draw together, like it's something he has to seriously weigh against the alternatives.</p>
<p>Bodhi feels a hint of hollowness start to bloom just beneath his breast bone. It’s a ridiculous reaction, of course, because maybe Luke just wants time to himself or has something he needs to do. But Bodhi’s used to being good at cheering Luke up.</p>
<p>Only then Luke says softly, “Yeah, okay.” He shrugs one shoulder, jostling his pack, and says, “Lemme just —”</p>
<p>“Right, yeah,” Bodhi agrees, a flush of unreasonable relief sweeping over him.</p>
<p>Luke comes in and settles into the co-pilot’s seat with a flash of a smile as Bodhi’s finishing up his pre-flight preparations. Bodhi grins back, feeling some tension in his shoulders he hadn’t realized was there dissipate.</p>
<p>“Monsoon Echo to Transit Authority,” Bodhi says, flipping his comm switch. “We are ready for departure.”</p>
<p>“Roger, you are clear for take-off,” the traffic controller responds. “Good travels and safe harbor.”</p>
<p>“Force willing,” Bodhi answers reflexively. Then he pulls them up and out, punches them into hyperspace just after they breach the atmosphere.</p>
<p>With Luke sitting in the co-pilot’s seat, eyes alight as he stares at the stars, it’s easy to forget what awaits them and simply take pleasure in flight.</p>
<p>Eventually, though, the spell has to be broken. Some time after they’ve made the jump to hyperspace, Luke cocks his head sideways like he’s listening to something in the distance and says, “Leia wants to train.”</p>
<p>Bodhi can’t help but shiver in surprise. “You can really talk to each other like that?” he asks. He’s heard of it happening in stories, but he’s never actually seen anyone do it before.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Luke says, dragging the word out thoughtfully. “She’s better at it than I am — it sounds like <em>words </em>from her. I’m not used to that. I’ve never met anyone as strong in the Force as her.” Then he purses his lips. “Well, maybe that’s not true. I knew Ben — Obi-Wan.”</p>
<p>Bodhi licks his lips, trying to think of what to say. He’s seen Luke annoyed or angry or impatient plenty of times, but Luke’s stormy expression now feels different. More a sense of betrayal, the heartbreak of a child turned bright and bitter. Bodhi knows that edge, has seen it in too many people he’s known — the Struggle took so much and so many from Jedha, and the fist of the Empire came down on so many of the systems now in the Commonwealth — but it’s <em>wrong </em>on Luke’s face.</p>
<p>But then Luke shakes his head, expression clearing, and he asks, “Do you mind if we use the common space again? Leia wants to try some of the Guardian’s moving mediation exercises.”</p>
<p>Bodhi wants to rewind the moment and say the right thing. But Luke’s eyebrows are slanted up mildly, expectantly. So Bodhi only says, “Yeah, sure.”</p>
<p>Luke tosses him an absentminded smile and a, “Thanks,” as he hops up from the co-pilot’s seat.</p>
<p>Bodhi nods, rolls his shoulders, and says, “If the rest come by, you can send them up here, so no one’s in the way.”</p>
<p>“Will do!” Luke says, his voice already fading.</p>
<p>Luckily for Bodhi, he doesn’t have much time to brood. Not long after Luke leaves, heavy footsteps enter the cockpit.</p>
<p>“Oh, so you’re letting <em>them </em>rearrange the common area for recreational activities?” Kay asks, cocking his head in a deeply offended manner. “And yet when <em>I </em>make the perfectly reasonable request to —”</p>
<p>“They’re meditating. And don’t tell me I’m being unfair. I already banned them from using the scary laser sword onboard,” Bodhi cuts in, feeling his dark mood abruptly transformed into righteous professional exasperation. “Also, for the last time, building a grenade launcher to attach to your arm is not in any way safe. Probably not anywhere, but definitely not on this ship.”</p>
<p>Kay makes a sound that Bodhi still finds faintly disconcerting, because it’s so close to haughty sniffing.</p>
<p>“Fine, I suppose it would be difficult to conceal, which would somewhat undermine my ability to blend in,” Kay concedes with ill grace.</p>
<p>“More importantly, you could <em>blow up</em> yourself and my ship,” Bodhi repeats, pressing his palms to his eyes and rubbing. Sometimes it feels like he and Kay have been having this debate since they met, though Bodhi knows that isn’t true. (Kay, in a fit of uncharacteristic discretion, had saved sharing this particular personal ambition for the second time they worked together.)</p>
<p>Kay puts his arms up in an expansive sort of hand-shrug. “It would be an excellent engineering challenge and would certainly keep your mind off extraneous mission-related concerns.”</p>
<p>“Talking about the grenade launcher?” Jyn asks, ducking into the cockpit, nursing a steaming mug of caf.</p>
<p>Cassian follows a half-step behind, muttering, “Not that again.”</p>
<p>“I agree!” Bodhi says.</p>
<p>Kay looks down at Jyn.</p>
<p>“Sorry,” she says, patting him on the arm. “Think you’re outvoted on this one, my friend. I like the ship I’m on to stay in one piece ‘til I’m off it.”</p>
<p>While Jyn and Kay trade mild barbs, Cassian snakes his way up to the co-pilot’s seat. “How are we looking?” he asks.</p>
<p>“On schedule,” Bodhi says.</p>
<p>Cassian nods, his dark eyes hooded and preoccupied, the way he looks before missions he doesn’t like the outlook of. But then that’s many missions — Cassian is a devout believer in the Commonwealth, but only rarely an optimist.</p>
<p>“Can I ask —” Bodhi begins, then stops himself, chewing on his lower lip.</p>
<p>Cassian merely raises his eyebrows slightly, nodding and leaning in.</p>
<p>“Can we pull this off, really? With both of them there on Naboo?” Bodhi asks.</p>
<p>Over the years, he’s learnt to have the utmost confidence in Jyn, Cassian, and Kay. He hasn’t asked something as baldly apprehensive as this since their earliest days working together, before they’d crossed over into a true friendship, an understanding. He’s headed into danger after danger with them, for them, and they’ve never let it touch him, or his ship.</p>
<p>But it’s different now, with Luke onboard. Bodhi’s guts feel tangled when he lets himself think about the possibilities.</p>
<p>“We need to,” Cassian says. “So we will.”</p>
<p>Behind them Jyn clicks her tongue. “It’s not that dire, Bodhi,” she says. “The princess was raised for this kind of thing and your friend might not be a very good liar, but he’ll manage. It’s not as bad as you think.”</p>
<p>“Maybe,” Bodhi says, willing himself to believe it.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Luke’s dreams are strange their first night back aboard Monsoon Echo. He dreams of Sand People and flowing lava and his grandmother’s tired face. The dreams linger in his waking brain and resurface unexpectedly, like a draft across the back of his neck. It leaves him distractible, prone to staring off into space.</p>
<p>It's evening on their second day out from Cloud City, and they’ve just cleared up from dinner. Luke’s in his bunk, attempting to unravel the hydrogeology class notes a university friend sent him into something he actually comprehends. He’s going back and forth between them and the holo-display of the groundwater simulation he’s hovering in front of him.</p>
<p>In the background, through his open door, Luke can hear the sounds of the ship. Closed doors are rare within the Temple during waking hours and Luke's become so accustomed to it that it feels wrong to sequester himself here. Cloud City had been and felt like a foreign place, but he’s been wandering around and studying in Monsoon Echo for almost as long as Bodhi’s had her.</p>
<p>Plus it leaves an open invitation to anyone passing by and Luke certainly wouldn’t pass up an excuse to take a break.</p>
<p>As if on cue, Bodhi peeks his head in through the open door. “Hey,” he says.</p>
<p>"Hey," Luke responds. His stomach gives a rebellious little flutter of excitement. He sets down his notes and his holo emitter.</p>
<p>“Just wanted to remind you that we’re not supposed to send or receive personal holocalls once we reach the border tomorrow,” Bodhi says, sliding into the room and resting a hand on Luke’s beside table. “So you’ll want to call your folks before we hit Hei-Lan station. You won’t be able to after that, not until the trip back.”</p>
<p>Luke’s stomach drops. He knew this was coming. Since Bodhi joined the Fleet, there’s always been periods when Bodhi would drop out of touch — no letters even — and it’s not like Luke didn’t know why. But he’s been putting off thinking about it, ignoring the looming deadline.</p>
<p>“Luke?” Bodhi prompts, drumming his fingers on the bedside table.</p>
<p>“Won’t really be a big difference,” Luke mumbles, a kind of confession. “My aunt and uncle and I aren’t really on speaking terms anyway.”</p>
<p>Bodhi bites his lip and then plops down next to Luke on the bed. Even now, Luke can’t help but notice how close he is, how little space there is between their legs.</p>
<p>“I know you’re angry with them,” Bodhi says quietly, “and I’m sure it’s not fun talking to them right now. But it can be hard, not even having the option to talk to your family. Especially if you’re used to seeing them every day, practically.”</p>
<p>Luke feels a little prickle of — loneliness, maybe, wash over Bodhi like a shiver.</p>
<p>“No, I mean,” Luke grimaces, steeling himself against Bodhi’s certain disappointment, “I haven’t talked to them since we left.”</p>
<p>“You haven’t?” Bodhi asks, deep frown lines etching themselves between his eyebrows.</p>
<p>Luke looks down at the table. The concern rolling off Bodhi raises tiny bumps over Luke’s skin, as if it were a real chill sweeping into the room.</p>
<p>“I haven’t exactly wanted to chat,” Luke says, trying to keep his emotions in rank behind him. His voice wavers, though, betraying him.</p>
<p>“I don’t —” Bodhi twists his mouth and shrugs. “I mean, I can’t imagine what you must feel like. And I’m not saying you have to ignore that they didn’t tell you about your parents.” He turns, shifting so he’s angled towards Luke.</p>
<p>Luke reluctantly follows suit. Bodhi’s dark eyes are wide and worried.</p>
<p>“It’s just that — There’s no one I’d trust to look after you more than this team. But going to Naboo isn’t safe,” Bodhi says. Luke feels his fear bubble up like boiling water. “I really think you should call them.”</p>
<p>Luke hadn’t recognized Bodhi’s fear for what it is and the depth of it overwhelms him for a moment. Bodhi is terrified, Luke realizes, because of <em>him</em>. For him. It’s like being a child again, aware of some invisible menace plaguing everyone Luke loves because of what he can do.</p>
<p>But Luke is not a child anymore and he is not helpless. He knows that the danger has a name and a face and that they both belong to his father.</p>
<p>Luke reaches out for Bodhi’s hand and squeezes it, pushing reassurance through his Force presence without thinking. Bodhi might not be able to feel the Force, but he squeezes back.</p>
<p>“I’ll be okay,” Luke promises. He hopes he’s telling the truth, wills it to be the truth, because he and Bodhi don’t break promises to each other. “You’re here and Leia’s here, and your team. The Force wants me to go. There must be some reason.”</p>
<p>Bodhi swallows. “Just because there’s a reason doesn’t mean it’ll be easy. And if I’m worried,” his grip on Luke’s hand tightens, “Owen and Beru must be tearing their hair out. I’m not saying they should have kept so much from you, but I know them and I know you and they love you so much.”</p>
<p>Luke looks away, unable to keep eye contact. His throat tightens, suddenly aching, and his vision goes blurry at the edges. His mind, unbidden, brings up the silent, tight hug Owen gave him at his pavya ceremony, and the feel of Beru’s callused hands framing his face, her promise that he was worth walking away from everything their families had eked out for themselves on the only planet any of them had ever known.</p>
<p>“Will you try calling them, please?” Bodhi asks.</p>
<p>Luke nods shakily.</p>
<p>“Okay,” Bodhi murmurs. “Thank you.” He slides himself forward, off the bed, and lingers for a moment, fingers brushing back and forth across the sides of his thighs like he’s not quite sure what to do with himself.</p>
<p>Luke watches the motion. He knows that somewhere beyond the solid, overpowering wave of his own emotions is a tangle of Bodhi’s but with the roar in his ears, he can only hear himself. He reaches for his comm and clenches it in his fist, feeling the edges dig into the flesh of his palm.</p>
<p>Suddenly, in a darting motion, Bodhi leans down, presses a kiss to Luke’s forehead, and steps back as quickly as a flinch.</p>
<p>"I'll give you some privacy," he says and is gone immediately, leaving Luke dumbfounded.</p>
<p>Luke feels like Monsoon Echo's gravity has suddenly dropped out around him. He wonders for a fleeting moment if he imagined it all — it was so fast, and something he cannot deny he’s daydreamed about in a million different iterations.</p>
<p>But the weight of his comm in his hand, light and yet so utterly consequential, draws Luke back to the moment. He has weeks or maybe a lifetime to try to unravel what he feels for Bodhi, what Bodhi might feel for him. But he cannot say the same for this call.</p>
<p>Wildly, almost without looking, Luke punches in a call home.</p>
<p>Almost immediately, a distorted blue image of Beru pops up.</p>
<p>“Luke!” Beru exclaims. “It’s you! How are you? Are you alright?” Then she motions behind herself. “Owen, come here, Luke called!”</p>
<p>She turns back immediately, the familiar features of her face fuzzy in the holo projection. Still, it’s enough to see the way her eyebrows are drawn together fretfully.</p>
<p>“I’m okay, Aunt Beru,” Luke says.</p>
<p>Beru’s expression doesn’t change though.</p>
<p>“Really,” Luke says. He smiles and says, “Bodhi’s looking out for me. You don’t have to worry.”</p>
<p>“We don’t have to worry?” Owen says, his image popping up. The connection’s not good enough to pick up on how deeply etched the stress lines on his forehead are, but Luke’s memory can fill them in. “You’re headed into Imperial space, of course we have to worry.”</p>
<p>Before Luke can say anything, Beru puts a hand on Owen’s arm and squeezes. “Owen,” she says, a hint of warning in her voice. “Isn’t it nice that Luke called?”</p>
<p>Owen nods once, mouth set in a line. A concession. “We were hoping to hear from you.”</p>
<p>Luke dips his chin, searching for the right words. He’d gone nearly a year without seeing them when he was on his First Journey last year and it had been alternatively freeing and lonely.</p>
<p>How closely they’d always kept their eyes on him, how insistent they were that he always tell them where he was, the heavy concern that permeated the farm as he’d prepared for his First Journey — it all makes more sense now, knowing who and what they worried about.</p>
<p>“We almost called, oh, probably a dozen times,” Beru says with a smile that doesn’t quite spark her eyes as usual. “But we thought it might be better to give you some time.”</p>
<p>Luke nods. “Sorry I didn’t call earlier,” he mumbles.</p>
<p>“How’s it been, being off-moon?” Owen asks briskly.</p>
<p>Despite how obvious a feint it is, Luke can’t help but grin, thinking immediately of the thrill of Longnu’s Belt, the first sight of Cloud City emerging in the sky.</p>
<p>“Look at him. Being off-moon’s an adventure.” Beru says. “Owen, he’s not like us. We’re land people.”</p>
<p>Owen runs a hand over his stubbly chin and nods. “That we are,” he agrees.</p>
<p>Luke remembers, with a spark of amusement, how much Owen had disliked their trip from Tatooine to Jedha, how he’d gotten space sick on the first two legs.</p>
<p>“But Luke never minded a little space travel, did you?” Beru says, smiling in such a way that Luke knows they’re thinking of the same thing.</p>
<p>Luke smiles back involuntarily. “No, it’s been fun, getting to see Monsoon Echo in action.”</p>
<p>“You boys haven’t run into any trouble though, have you?” Beru asks.</p>
<p>“No, no, everything’s been fine,” Luke says quickly. “We stopped in Cloud City, on Bespin for a couple days. It was really beautiful. The water recycling system’s interesting, too. You’d’ve liked seeing it.”</p>
<p>“Well, that sounds very educational,” Beru says, folding her hands in front of her face, her amusement clear from the way her eyes narrow merrily. “I hope you haven’t just been inspecting water recyclers, though. There must be more exciting things happening out there.”</p>
<p>“You could look at water recyclers at home any day you wanted,” Owen adds.</p>
<p>“Oh, I know.” Luke laughs down at his crossed legs. “The Baron-Administrator was just excited to show it off, when he heard I grew up on a moisture farm. I guess he doesn’t get too many guests who know enough to be impressed. I saw other stuff, too. The whole city’s pretty incredible.”</p>
<p>“Well, tell us about it,” Beru presses, so Luke does.</p>
<p>As he unspools images of the city in the sky, the sleek white walls, the breath-stealing view at sunset, and the bustle of dozens of different species in the food market. Without being conscious of it, Luke’s been saving it all up for them, the way he did when he was away from home last, stowing away all the best bits to send to them. Some hidden knot in his stomach almost dissolves.</p>
<p>Except they’re all avoiding the fight and the secrets that lie between them.</p>
<p>“We’ll be reaching the border in another two days,” Luke finally says. “I won’t be able to call after that.”</p>
<p>“Oh,” Beru responds, her face falling.</p>
<p>Owen’s shoulders tighten. “Makes sense,” he says. “Safer that way.”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Luke agrees, tracing a finger back and forth over the arch of his foot.</p>
<p>“Luke, you’ll be careful, won’t you?” Beru asks.</p>
<p>Luke nods, feeling the ache in his throat threatening again. “I wish,” he stumbles. “I just wish you’d told me earlier. About my parents.”</p>
<p>Owen’s face goes hard. “The only thing knowing the truth about your father would’ve given you was grief. You were a baby. You didn’t have anything to do with Darth Vader and what he did. You don’t now either.”</p>
<p>“We just wanted to keep you safe,” Beru pleads.</p>
<p>“But I have a <em>sister</em>,” Luke returns. “You should have told me that, at least.”</p>
<p>“Maybe we should’ve,” Owen says.</p>
<p>The shock of Owen admitting that hits Luke, leaving him open-mouthed but without words.</p>
<p>“Of course you’re not the only one who’s thought that, Luke,” Beru says, the lines around her mouth showing, looking carved in. “We wanted you to be safe, not for you to feel alone.”</p>
<p>Luke swallows. “I didn’t feel alone,” he says, because that’s the truth. Even as a child on Tatooine, aware that he was somehow different in a way that made people uncomfortable, he’d had friends and an easy, unquestioning assumption that Owen and Beru would always be there. Then there’d been Jedha, and Chirrut, and the Temple, and he’d had others who were like him. “But Leia’s —” Luke shrugs. It’s hard to put into words, the absolute certainty he has that they have always been connected, that he’s been waiting to meet her his whole life. “She’s wonderful. I wish we could’ve known each other, before.”</p>
<p>“Maybe,” Beru offers, tentatively, “one day we could meet her?”</p>
<p>“Yeah.” Luke smiles, trying to picture it. Will Leia, with her sharp wit, make Owen laugh and Beru press a hand over her smile? Will they see any traces of Shmi in Leia’s face? “I’d like that. I think Leia would, too.”</p>
<p>Beru prompts Luke to tell them more about his sister and he does, only too happily.</p>
<p>When they say their good-byes, some time later, Beru urges, “Luke, come home safe.”</p>
<p>“I will,” Luke promises, because he always has before and there is no other answer to give.</p>
<hr/>
<p>“Alright, we’re going to be coming out of hyperspace soon, close to the Hei-Lan Station on our side,” Bodhi announces over the ship-wide comm their third morning out from Cloud City. “Your highness, if you could come up to the cockpit? We’ll have to present our diplomatic credentials once they send us over to the Imps.”</p>
<p>“On my way,” Leia’s voice crackles over the comms.</p>
<p>Jyn and Cassian follow Leia in, and when Bodhi turns to look, he finds Kay lurking just outside the entrance. It makes the cockpit tight for space, with Cassian leaning over Bodhi’s seat and Leia coming to stand in the space between Bodhi and Luke, sitting forward in the co-pilot’s seat, staring hard out the front viewport.</p>
<p>“So this is the border, huh?” Luke murmurs.</p>
<p>Bodhi glances sideways. Luke’s eyebrows are drawn together, eyes distant and hard. Bodhi wonders what he’s remembering — back when Luke and the Larses came to Jedha, they’d crossed the border the way most refugees from the Empire do: surreptitiously, slipping through the wide cracks in Imperial scrutiny around the Outer Rim.</p>
<p>But things have changed in the years since the Commonwealth’s amorphous beginnings and the initiation of the Empire’s Outer Rim anti-slavery campaign. The border’s far more formal than it once was. There’s a loose chain of rival space stations that punctuate the dividing line between the Commonwealth and the Empire. The Commonwealth and Imperial space stations rarely line up as directly as Hei-Lan Station and Station Delta-Eight do, and for good reason — sitting staring out, day after day, at people in the very uniforms you once once shot at is a too-easy recipe for sparking conflict. But this chunk of space is simply too busy not to have a clear delineation of the border.</p>
<p>“This area’s gotten a lot more built up in the past couple years. More legitimate traffic around the Mid-Rim,” Bodhi says, nodding up at the steadily growing space stations.</p>
<p>Hei-Lan, the Commonwealth station, is little more than a pair of rotating bio-rings with landing bays sticking out, while the Imperial space station branches spider-like limbs off its imposing central hub.</p>
<p>“Also because the Moffs care more about the Mid-Rim and Core,” Cassian adds, low and harsh.</p>
<p>“Don’t have to tell me that,” Luke murmurs, soft.</p>
<p>Hei-Lan’s been expecting them and waves them through quickly. “Naboo, that’s right,” the official says, her image flickering in the holo-image. She grimaces, sends over their approval, and says, slightly too fervently to be reassuring, “May the Force be with you.”</p>
<p>Delta-Eight, the Imperial station, is barely more than the length of a Star Destroyer away from Hei-Lan, but the reception is entirely different. Even with Leia personally presenting their diplomatic credentials, they’re left sitting before the border for an hour that leaves Bodhi’s scalp itchy with sweat, then scanned over by a duo of TIE fighters, before finally being waved through.</p>
<p>“No hyperspace jumps in Imperial territory,” reminds the Imperial officer with a sniff.</p>
<p>Bodhi knows that his spotless entry and exit records must have been pulled up, with all the time the Imps let them sit and stew. But he’s been doing this long enough now that he knows just to paste on a hard smile and say, “Of course.”</p>
<p>When the holo emitter clicks off and they’ve proceeded past the Imperial station, Luke blurts out, “What an asshole!”</p>
<p>Bodhi snorts, glancing over fondly at Luke, pink-cheeked with indignation. Behind them, Jyn barks a surprised laugh.</p>
<p>“I didn’t know monks were allowed to swear,” she says.</p>
<p>“We’re not monks, exactly,” Luke replies, the flush starting to fade. “And if we weren’t allowed to swear, we’d lose half our people.”</p>
<p>After that, the cockpit slowly empties out person by person, until it’s just Bodhi and his ship and the stars. Everything else is background noise.</p>
<p>After dinner, Luke comes back to sit with him and do sundown prayers.</p>
<p>“Guess it’s going to be more work for you, until we get to Naboo,” Luke says.</p>
<p>Bodhi nods. “I can let the computer or Kay navigate when I’m eating or sleeping, but the Empire gets awfully cagey about anything they consider ‘weird’ happening,” he says. “So yeah, I’ll be doing most of the flying myself.”</p>
<p>“Does it get boring after a while?” Luke asks.</p>
<p>Bodhi lets out an amused breath. “If I got bored by a couple days in a row of real-space flying, I’d never have made it out of the Academy,” he responds. “Nah, I like it. Just gotta remember to stretch. And keep your mind occupied. I do my datawork, file my mechanics reports. Sometimes I see if I can pick up local holonews transmissions. Or I listen to audio serials.”</p>
<p>“So that’s why you always know what’s going on in that serial about ancient Lothal that Beru listens to.” Luke grins.</p>
<p>“It’s a really addicting show! Lots of twists,” Bodhi protests. “But, um.” He feels his stomach start to flip as if he’s about to take an exam, which is ridiculous when it’s just Luke he’s talking to. “Company’s nice, too.”</p>
<p>“Oh,” Luke mumbles. When Bodhi sneaks a glance sideways, he’s smiling down at his hands. “Good.”</p>
<p>The next morning, Jyn steals Luke to drill him on his cover story again and Bodhi instead makes do with Kay’s caustic commentary on the other ships they spot. But in the afternoon Luke curls up in the co-pilot’s seat again, asking for stories from Bodhi’s travels and catching him up on the neighborhood gossip.</p>
<p>That’s when an idea pops into Bodhi’s head. It’s not a good one, but it’s appealing in a way Bodhi can’t deny. Before his common sense can catch up with him, he asks, “Do you wanna pilot for a bit?”</p>
<p>Luke looks up so fast it tosses his hair. “Really?” he asks.</p>
<p>His eyes are alight. It’s heart-stopping.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Bodhi manages, trying not to sound breathless. “Why not? Course is already set.”</p>
<p>“Right now?” Luke asks, practically bouncing with eagerness.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Bodhi says again, feeling that he’s no longer in charge of his own mouth, merely borne along by some undeniable impulse. “Let’s switch.”</p>
<p>Luke jumps up immediately, shooing Bodhi out of the pilot’s seat.</p>
<p>The Commonwealth could slap a picture of Luke’s shining face on a poster and it’d probably do more to etch the dream of flying into people’s hearts than a hundred recruiters combined.</p>
<p>Looking at Luke, Bodhi, who’s already in uniform, already sworn, just <em>wants</em>. To stand and gently push Luke up against the pilot’s seat, to cup Luke’s face in his hands, to kiss him breathless as he sits behind the controls of Bodhi’s ship.</p>
<p>But in this of all things, there can be no jumping without looking. So Bodhi stays perfectly still and lets the sound of Luke’s delighted laughter wash over him.</p>
<hr/>
<p>They’re only a day out from Naboo when Luke finally gathers his courage to corner Cassian. He’d considered and dismissed having this conversation with Jyn (too liable, he’d decided, to slip around the topic) or Kaytoo (likely to pawn him off on Cassian anyway), before settling on his current plan.</p>
<p>Cassian reminds Luke of Baze, just a little, and he thinks that means Cassian will give him the truth, however unvarnished.</p>
<p>“Could I ask you something?” Luke begins, when he finds Cassian hunched over a datapad in the common area’s dining table. “About Sabé — Tsabin Belmar?”</p>
<p>Cassian’s dark eyes bore into him, as though reading some hidden script. Then he nods at the seat opposite him.</p>
<p>Luke slides in and just barely suppresses the urge to tap his fingers nervously. “You’ve met her before,” Luke begins.</p>
<p>“Yes,” says Cassian, his expression entirely still. Even his emotions feel locked down, carefully bricked up, as if maybe he’s been trained.</p>
<p>“Why do you think she still sees Vader, after all these years?” Luke asks, not even sure it’s the right question. He doesn’t know what the right question is. But he does know that he can’t understand, no matter the angle he looks at it from.</p>
<p>“He’s the Emperor,” Cassian says flatly. “The choice is not hers.”</p>
<p>A knot of frustration forms in Luke’s stomach, because he doesn’t need to be told that. He exhales. “What do they talk about?” Luke asks, trying a different road. “I’m not asking for secrets. I just don’t understand.”</p>
<p>At that, Cassian sighs, his shoulders slumping forward slightly. “You’re not the only one. Belmar has her theories and they might be right. Jyn thinks he comes because of your mother, not because of the conversation.”</p>
<p>“What do you think?” Luke inquires.</p>
<p>Cassian gives a skeptical snort and glances at Luke. Then, evidently taking in the earnestness of Luke’s request, he rubs at the edge of one eyebrow.</p>
<p>“Vader has few close councilors and many enemies, even within the Imperial hierarchy. Especially there. The stormtroopers,” Cassian’s tone curls with distaste, “they worship him, but higher up, it’s a different story. After Palpatine’s death, Vader must have killed or jailed two-thirds of the highest ranked officers in Palpatine’s inner circle. It didn’t exactly endear him to the ones left. These days not many want to risk actually having Vader’s attention. And plenty would rather be on the throne themselves.”</p>
<p>Luke nods. Half the reason the Commonwealth has been able to thrive as it has is because the Empire’s too focused on its own internal troubles to give the Commonwealth much thought. But Luke had never pondered how that reflects on what kind of person the Emperor is. What kind of person his father is.</p>
<p>“So you think it’s because . . . Vader has no one to talk to?” Luke asks.</p>
<p>“Could be,” Cassian says. “I don’t pretend to understand the Emperor’s mind. And I certainly don’t pity him.”</p>
<p>“No,” Luke agrees.</p>
<p>“Tsabin Belmar is a clever person. She has been turning herself into other people since she was only a child,” Cassian continues. “They say when Amidala was Queen, they acted and appeared so identical even their own families mistook them for one another.” Cassian’s tone is caught somewhere between admiration and horror. “Maybe Vader wants to speak to someone who once ruled, too.”</p>
<p>Luke wonders if he’ll find some version of his mother impressed still on whoever Tsabin Belmar is now. If they are going to meet a living woman who is also a ghost. He shivers.</p>
<p>“She is a spy,” Cassian says, suddenly into the silence. “And a good operative. She has insights, but no key. If she knew what made Vader tick, he would have been dead a long time ago.”</p>
<p>“Right,” Luke agrees, blankly. Something tells him this conversation has reached its ending, so he stands, nods what might or might not be thanks (he himself doesn’t know) to Cassian, and retreats to his quarters.</p>
<p>He’s there, lying on top of his bed staring absently at the ceiling, still floating in that equanimous, far-off feeling that lingers after meditation when Bodhi pokes his head in.</p>
<p>“Are you alright?” Bodhi asks.</p>
<p>Luke is suddenly sleepy. He wants Bodhi to lie down next to him, so he can tuck his face up against Bodhi’s neck and fold his limbs around Bodhi’s. He has the strange impression, floating in from nowhere, that Bodhi wouldn’t mind.</p>
<p>“I think maybe I look a lot like my father used to,” is what he finds himself saying aloud.</p>
<p>He hears more than sees Bodhi enter his quarters fully and sit down on the bed by Luke’s knees.</p>
<p>“I’ve always thought that you look like Beru,” Bodhi says quietly. “I know you’re not actually biologically related.”</p>
<p>Luke tears his eyes away from the gray durasteel ceiling to see Bodhi shrugging.</p>
<p>“But you’ve got the same eyes,” Bodhi finishes.</p>
<p>Luke pushes himself upright in bed, folding himself into a cross-legged position. “Thank you,” he says. Then, irresistibly pulled, he shifts over closer to Bodhi and hugs him tightly.</p>
<p>“Of course,” Bodhi says, muffled, as his arms wind around Luke’s back.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Naboo is beautiful from space and the sight of it makes acid burn at the back of Bodhi’s throat.</p>
<p>Bodhi has been to Imperial Center, which is objectively a more dangerous place to be a Commonwealth citizen, more than once. But today, bringing them into Naboo’s atmosphere, he feels as all-over twitchy with anxiety as he did the night he left Jedha for the first time.</p>
<p>Jyn squeezes his shoulder once, briefly, and nods at him as the elegantly curved domes of Theed rise up around them.</p>
<p>Bodhi sets Monsoon Echo down in the spot reserved on the landing pad, his shoulders tensed. There’s a welcoming party waiting for them, because the Imps might hate the Commonwealth but Force knows they love ceremony.</p>
<p>Everyone’s in their formal outfits, stiff shoulders and expensive materials. Cassian knocks once against Kay’s secret compartment. Leia presses a hand lightly to one of her elaborate hair buns.</p>
<p>Luke’s in some structured jacket over a soft-looking shirt — all white, too, so that standing together, he and Leia make a matching pair. He looks almost absurdly calm, holding a datapad, wearing a standard aide’s earpiece. No one would guess from his composed expression the way Luke had burrowed into their hug the night before, afraid of finding some latent monstrosity lying in wait within his genes. Bodhi, on the other hand, feels like an exposed nerve.</p>
<p>“Luke, just promise me,” Bodhi breaths in, squeezing Luke’s wrist, “that you’ll be careful.”</p>
<p>Luke slides his hand back, but only far enough to take Bodhi’s and tangle their fingers together for a brief moment. He nods. “You, too,” he murmurs back.</p>
<p>Bodhi takes a deep breath in and punches the button to lower Monsoon Echo’s exit ramp. The warm sea air of Theed rushes in to meet them.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Theed is surrounded by water. Luke knew that before coming, but seeing it is something different. After a lifetime spent in deserts, it’s hard not to gawp at the sheer plenty everywhere he looks. A little surprise, a little awe, Leia had assured him, would be flattering. Luke is certain he’s shot well past that. No one takes much notice of him, though. Even the glances of the lowest Imperial aides seem to slip right over him. Their condescension is probably doing more to maintain Luke’s cover than Luke is himself.</p><p>It’s their second day of negotiations and though he knows he should be paying closer attention, it’s hard not to get distracted by the view out the windows. They’re close to the dramatic waterfalls on Theed’s northern edge and there’s water vapor rising in the background.</p><p>Naboo seems to be a planet that wants for nothing.</p><p>And yet it seems overly reluctant to give up its ill-gotten treasures, considering that the Empire signed this repatriation agreement. Luke might not be an actual diplomatic aide and is perhaps too distractible even to pass as a competent one, but he can tell that the Naboo Imperial officers are dragging their feet.</p><p>“Our investigators found that Admiral Houlin’s purchases were legitimate,” Captain Redel, the lead Imperial negotiator says. “The appraisers were at fault, certainly, for prioritizing their profits over Imperial law, but under our —”</p><p>“Nonsense,” Leia says, calmly.</p><p>Luke can feel her banked rage. He wonders that the Imperial negotiators, trained as they are in this, can’t sense how close they are coming to sparking an ambush.</p><p>“If Admiral Houlin was unable to read very clear signs that the art dealers he had a —” Leia pauses to look down at her data pad. Luke can tell though that she doesn’t need any reminders though. Her anger and her confidence in the truth are one. Leia finishes, “Ah, yes, <em>decades-long relationship with </em>were in fact fencing stolen religious artifacts, I wonder that he made it to such a prominent position in your hierarchy. Surely the admiralty is no place for a fool.”</p><p>Leia is magnificent, from start to finish. By the end of the afternoon’s sessions, she’s secured the handover of the entirety of the stolen troves of half a dozen high-ranking Imperial officers stationed on Naboo. All that’s left for the next day is the matter of appropriate precautions around handling and transportation.</p><p>For all that his entire contribution to the day was sitting and probably making the Diplomatic Service Academy look bad, Luke still collapses into bed and doesn’t move for several minutes when he gets back to the hotel. He nearly groans with relief when he ditches his stiff-collared outfit for something looser and softer. Pretense is exhausting.</p><p>“Did it really go alright, today?” Bodhi asks softly, after they’ve eaten and done sundown prayers together on the hotel balcony.</p><p>They’re on their own for the evening, or as alone as closely watched diplomatic guests can be. Leia was spirited away earlier to some dinner too exclusive for minor aides, though Cassian has accompanied Leia. Silent, dour-faced diplomatic guard fits him so well that if Luke didn’t know otherwise, he would never guess the man had another reason for being here.</p><p>Luke doesn’t know where Jyn or Kaytoo are and knows not to ask.</p><p>“Yeah. Leia’s very good at her job,” Luke says, flopping down onto the plush couch in the hotel suite they’ve housed in. It feels expensive.</p><p>“I believe it,” Bodhi says, flashing a bit of a smile. “She doesn’t seem like she’d take no for an answer.”</p><p>“How was the tour of the shipyards they took you on?” Luke asks, trying not to sweep his gaze over the room. Jyn and Cassian had scanned for bugs the moment they’d entered the suite, picking them out one by one.</p><p>Bodhi shifts closer, rolling his eyes slightly. In the morning, Luke had been surprised Bodhi seemed less than excited to go see new and unusual ships. Bodhi had sighed, pushed his breakfast around, and muttered about Imps always showing off, lording over their building capacities. But still, Luke knows Bodhi. He can feel the thread of something Bodhi actually wants to share shimmering faintly beneath the irritation.</p><p>“Well. The amphibious ship designs were cool,” Bodhi concedes aloud. “They’re different from the Mon Calamari ones. I guess they must be Gungun designs.”</p><p>There’s a shade of genuine enthusiasm to that comment that makes Luke smile.</p><p>“It surprised me,” Bodhi says, eyebrows thoughtfully drawn together. “I didn’t think an Imperial shipyard would do that.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Luke agrees. The Empire isn’t known for its enthusiasm for non-human species, though they’re certainly enthusiastic enough about occupying their planets and moons. “See anything else interesting?”</p><p>There’s a little flair of emotion, difficult to categorize, from Bodhi then. Luke frowns, tipping his head in a silent question.</p><p>Bodhi meets his eyes, expression going slowly solemn. “Actually,” he says slowly. “I saw some murals, on the way back. I think you’d like them. They remind me of the wall paintings back home, sort of. But these are stained glass. They’re built into the foundations of the elevated walking paths.” He licks his lips. A kind of too careful apprehension rises off him like steam. “The plaques said they were portraits of notable queens of Naboo.”</p><p>Luke swallows, raises his eyebrows in an unspoken question and hopes Bodhi understands. Bodhi’s mouth quirks upward in a hint of a smile, but his dark eyes remain softly sympathetic. Almost sad.</p><p>He’s seen Luke’s mother.</p><p>“Do you want to take a walk, see them for yourself?” Bodhi asks quietly.</p><p>Luke’s heartbeat flutters in his eardrums. He’s been trying to catch sight of his mother, or himself, somewhere in this terrible, beautiful city. He will take an echo in any form.</p><p>“I’d like that,” he manages. “I’d like to see more of the city.”</p><p>Bodhi gives him an encouraging smile and slips off the couch, holding out his hand. “Then let’s go,” he says.</p>
<hr/><p>Like NiJedha, Theed is a city of stone. But as far as Bodhi can tell, that is where the similarities end. Theed is in the midst of a mild and pleasant spring, following what was by all reports a mild and pleasant winter. The city smells of the thundering water vapor of its falls, and that’s pleasant, too. Bodhi comes from a city and a moon where life must be carefully constructed to endure. Naboo’s overabundance of everything is almost suffocating, in comparison. Like the stench of rotting fruit.</p><p>Maybe this is what births empires, Bodhi thinks, as he leads Luke through Theed’s streets — get too much of a good thing too easily and too quickly, and people don’t realize their own fortune, become hungry for what should never be theirs.</p><p>“The bridge is this way,” Bodhi says, falling into his natural city-kid habits, weaving through the crowds. His Fleet training insists on a deliberate pace, though, no rushing in a way that will invite unwelcome attention.</p><p>“Leia’s coming, too,” Luke whispers. He’s following Bodhi’s snaking route easily, almost without looking. The Force has gifted him with a hawk-like grace, Bodhi thinks. “I told her to meet us.”</p><p>Bodhi shivers, though the seabreeze is balmy.</p><p>“She has to see it, too,” Luke says, a thread of insistence pressing through his tone.</p><p>“Alright,” Bodhi agrees, reaching out to squeeze Luke’s forearm, an attempt at being comforting that Luke seems to take as it’s meant, at least.</p><p>Their path converges with Leia and Cassian’s in an open square just before the bridge that captured Bodhi’s attention earlier in the day.</p><p>“Such a lovely evening, isn’t it?” Leia says, lightly. “I see we had the same thought about an after-dinner walk.” She threads her arms through Luke’s elbow. “Shall we?” she asks, tossing a smile. “Bodhi, you’ve had more of a chance to sightsee. Where to?”</p><p>“I was just telling Luke about some of the bridge murals,” Bodhi says, nodding in the direction of the portrait.</p><p>“Did you know that glasswork is a traditional Naboo art form?” Leia asks Luke, as they begin to walk. Her tone is light and conversational, a better informed friend catching up her new aide.</p><p>“You think Draven ever wishes she wasn’t royalty, so he could recruit her?” Bodhi mutters in a careful undertone to Cassian.</p><p>Cassian pinches his nose. “I would rather <em>not </em>think about it,” he responds.</p><p>After a few short moments of strolling, they reach the bridge in question, pausing to study a few of the preceding monarchs’ portraits. A few have flowers or tokens resting below them — there are more than earlier in the day when Bodhi first walked past. Someone must clear them regularly, whether out of respect or Imperial fastidiousness and disapproval of anything that smells of treasonous hopes.</p><p>Bodhi leads them slowly to the central portrait, the one of Queen Amidala. It is a profile of her in full regalia, fourteen and carrying the planet on her shoulders. Dewy red roses the color of her robes spill out before the portrait, tiny acts of beautiful rebellion and stubborn remembrance.</p><p>Luke slides his arm around Leia’s shoulder as they stop in front of it, faces tilted up. Something in Bodhi’s chest twinges, thinking of home and his sisters and niece.</p><p>Then, suddenly, Luke and Leia both gasp in unison and clutch at each other. Out of the corner of his eye, Bodhi sees a few scattered pedestrians turn and look, quizzical. A bolt of fear electrifies Bodhi’s spine.</p><p>“What is it?” Bodhi asks, searching Luke’s face for some clue. His eyes are wide, his mouth half open. “What just happened?”</p><p>“She —” Luke starts, shaking his head.</p><p>“The portrait —” Leia says, overlapping.</p><p>They both fall silent and stare at each other, a closed circuit of unspoken shock.</p><p>“Has anything like that ever happened to you before?” Leia asks.</p><p>Cassian glances at Bodhi and Bodhi finds his own disquiet mirrored in Cassian’s expression. Bodhi knows Luke for so long that he rarely experiences the disconcertion people sometimes do when Luke knows something, says something a typical human couldn’t or wouldn’t. But right now, the gap between them feels like a chasm.</p><p>“No, never,” Luke says.</p><p>Bodhi hopes it’s just paranoia, but he thinks he sees people approaching, their gaze intent. No uniforms, but that could very well be worse. Cassian’s eyes sweep their surroundings, too. His shoulders grow almost imperceptibly tenser. Bodhi wrestles down the urge to grab Luke’s hand and run.</p><p>“Your highness,” Cassian says in an undertone. “Perhaps we should move along.”</p><p>“Right, yes, of course,” Leia says, blinking. “There’s still much more to see.” She starts toward the next pillar portrait, but Bodhi can see her hand tremble slightly, until she presses it to her side.</p><p>Luke seems stuck in place until Bodhi touches at his elbow, pressing him forward. “Luke, please,” Bodhi whispers. “People are starting to get curious.”</p><p>Luke swallows but listens and follows as Cassian hustles them back to their hotel suite as efficiently as he can. Bodhi keeps his hand on Luke’s arm the whole way, like an anchor. Though which one of them that’s helping, Bodhi couldn’t say.</p><p>“What happened back there?” Cassian demands, once the door is closed behind them.</p><p>Leia looks at the floor, frown lines appearing over her face. “You won’t believe us,” she says. It’s like a book slamming shut.</p><p>So Bodhi turns his gaze on Luke, who looks back, wild-eyed. “Luke?” he prompts.</p><p>“She turned and looked at us,” Luke says, his tone helpless. “The portrait.”</p><p>Bodhi takes a startled breath in. A shiver runs downs his body. People talk about things like this in the Holy City — statues moving, the kyber singing. The more skeptical attribute it to over-passionate fervency and dehydration. Bodhi has just a sliver enough faith to believe — <em>maybe, it could be</em>. Bodhi’s seen things himself that others might call impossible, after all.</p><p>And right now, Luke seems as certain of what happened as he is stunned.</p><p>“I swear,” he says and Bodhi can almost taste the desperation in his words.</p><p>Cassian raises his eyebrows at Leia. She nods.</p><p>Cassian rubs his hands over his face, hard. “Alright,” he says, finally. “If we’re going to have miracles on this mission, I will have to be grateful they’re subtle ones.”</p><p>Leia barks a surprised laugh. “I underestimate your adaptability sometimes, Captain,” she says, a fondness to her tone.</p><p>Luke, though, wraps his fingers gently around Bodhi’s wrist. “You believe me, right?” he asks, quiet, between only them.</p><p>Bodhi looks back, meeting Luke’s eyes. He brushes his own fingers against the inside of Luke’s wrist, calluses against soft skin. Then he says with careful emphasis, “Yes.”</p><p>If there is anyone Bodhi believes the laws of the universe would bend for, it’s Luke.</p><p>Luke lets out a breath and his shoulders visibly unwind.</p><p>“Let’s get some tea, yeah?” Bodhi offers. He has the urge to lean forward and kiss Luke’s forehead again, but they’re not alone, not on his ship.</p><p>Still, Luke nods and even musters a smile. At sight of it, Bodhi can feel his own muscles begin to relax, too.</p>
<hr/><p>The talks conclude on their third full day in Theed.</p><p>It’s hard for Luke to concentrate when his mind keeps tumbling back to the evening before — his child-mother captured in colored glass, turning to look at him and Leia with her solemn, dark eyes. An echo in the Force there and gone in a breath.</p><p>Still, Luke tries to act the part of an attentive aide as best he can. He wants to avoid the possibility of Jyn, who’s their guard today, jabbing him in the back of the neck, the way she’d threatened to when he’d yawned at breakfast.</p><p>After a brief morning session, Leia and Captain Redel sign the agreement and walk out to meet the press, waving genially and sharing empty pleasantries.</p><p>The conclusion of the talks has been carefully timed to coincide with the first night of Naboo’s annual lantern festival. A planetary symbol of renewal, of hope. They might not agree on much else, Luke thinks, but it seems both Imperial and Commonwealth diplomats love a pretty story, packing everything up with a nice bow.</p><p>“I hope we will be seeing you at tonight’s festivities?” asks Captain Redel, the lead Imperial negotiator. “Governor Veradis is looking forward to welcoming you to his estate.”</p><p>“I’ve heard a great deal about the lantern festival,” Leia says, with a smile that almost seems sincere. “I look forward to attending. Getting to see local customs and celebrations is one of the great benefits of a diplomat’s life, wouldn’t you agree?”</p><p>“Indeed,” Redel agrees. “I understand Commonwealth custom is to invite one’s,” he pauses, searching, “ah . . . subordinates to celebrations. Will your entire party be in attendance at the festival, then?”</p><p>Luke can’t help but bristle at the high-handedness. He’s on the verge of interrupting and saying something about how that kind of attitude is probably why so many lower-level Imperial officers defect. But Leia shoots him a warning look over her shoulder and Luke tries to rein his temper.</p><p>“Certainly,” Leia says, turning back to Redel with a pleasant smile. “The Commonwealth hasn’t the wealth of personnel that the Empire does. Everyone with me is essential staff, you’ll find. I can hardly attend without my guards and my pilot is actually the one who has spent the most time in the Empire, of us all.”</p><p>Redel nods distractedly, as if he’s already moved onto some other topic. “Then I shall look forward to seeing them all this evening. Your highness,” he nods, to Leia alone of course. “Come,” he barks to his own retinue and they all disappear down the corridor in one dark gray mass.</p><p>Luke must be radiating his dislike louder than he intends because Leia smirks up at him and shakes her head slightly.</p><p>Jyn clears her throat, which is maybe the first time she’s made an actually audible noise in hours. “Shall we return to the hotel, your highness?” she asks, all mildness.</p><p>“He doesn’t think we’re a threat at all,” Luke mutters when they reach the lift to their suite. “Even after Leia wiped the table with him in those talks.”</p><p>Jyn gives a one-shouldered shrug. “Word around his office is that he’s on his way to Imperial Center. Some big promotion,” she says. “Losing a few admirals’ art collections is no skin off his nose anymore.”</p><p>“Thank you for that resounding endorsement of my negotiation skills,” Leia says dryly.</p><p>“Not saying you didn’t have something to do with it,” Jyn says, eyes flashing with amusement for one short moment. “Just saying that there were some extra factors that swung our way.”</p><p>“Let’s hope our luck holds tonight, then,” Leia says, her eyes growing flinty.</p><p>Luke’s stomach flips, thinking about it. Tonight, under the cover of the bustling party, they will finally meet Sabé, their reason for coming here, to the very heart of the Empire.</p>
<hr/><p>Bodhi rolls his shoulders back, trying to work some range of movement into his dress uniform. “I hate this bit of the plan,” he mutters. Why couldn’t this meet-up take place in the usual badly lit landing bay, or forgettable government hall? Those don’t require Bodhi to act the part of a particularly stiffly uniformed chauffeur.</p><p>“At least you don’t have to hide in the trunk of the speeder until we get there,” Kaytoo says, entirely without sympathy. He’s been out on surveillance the past few days and is clearly aggravated at having to box himself back up. Understandably, Bodhi thinks, looking at the trunk of the speeder the Naboo Resistance supplied them with.</p><p>“Yeah, the trunk’s worse,” Bodhi admits.</p><p>“Yes,” Kay says flatly. “It is.” Then with a noise of deep complaint, he begins to fold himself into the trunk’s hidden compartment. “Don’t forget that I’m in here.”</p><p>“No one is going to forget you,” Cassian says, emerging from indoors, trailed by the rest. “The speeder is specially marked and the Resistance members on location know to let you out.”</p><p>“Still,” Kay says.</p><p>Bodhi filters out their bickering, allowing himself one quick sideways glance at Luke, dressed in his finery from Cloud City once more. A toe dipped in the water, an attempted inoculation.</p><p>Luke looks beautiful, of course, but pale and preoccupied. Bodhi offers what he hopes is a reassuring smile as the rest of the team piles into the passenger end of the speeder. Luke’s cheeks go faintly pink.</p><p>Bodhi doesn’t really have the spare time or attention to analyze that, though. He navigates them through Theed’s streets and out to the edge of the city, uncomfortable fear gnawing at his guts. The buildings slowly grow further apart, until they’re on the edge of Governor Veradis’s estate.</p><p>“All of this belongs to one person?” Luke mumbles from behind Bodhi’s shoulder.</p><p>Bodhi understands the feeling. If dread hadn’t taken all the spare room in his brain, he’d be feeling indignant rage now. They’re still in the city technically, but rolling in front of them are acres of parkland on the edge of the clear, dark sea.</p><p>“It used to be public property,” Leia murmurs quietly. “An old royal palace. When the first Imperial governor installed himself, he commandeered it and closed it to the public. Government housing for the hardworking system governor,” she scoffs. “It’s a private club for Imperial officers. Of course Veradis continued that, when Tarkin gave him the system.”</p><p>As they slowly advance up the long drive toward the sprawling building, strung with small, twinkling lights, Cassian murmurs, “Remember, Belmar will need some time to mingle as well before meeting us at the agreed upon location. So try to do the same. Pay some compliments, meet some people. Don’t look like you’re waiting.”</p><p>“Say something nice about the grounds,” Jyn throws in, her tone filled with sly humor. “The Imps love their fancy landscaping.”</p><p>Bodhi pulls the speeder up to the entrance hall and waits for everyone else to exit before taking a deep breath in and slipping out himself.</p><p>“Take good care of her,” he says, handing over the keys. He tries to hold his voice steady as he deploys the code phrase, “She’s a real jewel.”</p><p>The attendant smiles oh-so-slightly and says, “Of course, sir, all of us here know to be careful with precious assets.”</p><p>All correct, but Bodhi is so blanked out with fear it almost doesn’t sink in. His body takes over where his conscious brain can’t quite manage. He nods and continues up the steps, catching Jyn’s eye and murmuring softly so his hidden earpiece will pick it up, “All good.”</p><p>For the moment, Bodhi’s only job is to do what he’d normally do at a party like this: do and be noticed as little as possible. He wanders out onto the grounds to lurk in the background, occasionally mumbling compliments on the food to the circulating servers (almost all humans, he notes). Out of the corner of his eye, he spots Luke and Leia on a slow circuit through the garden, pausing for introductions to some group of well-dressed people, then to study a branching sculpture with flowering vines braided into it. They make a striking pair.</p><p>“The security here is remarkably lax,” Kay’s voice pipes up suddenly in his earpiece, as Bodhi’s biting into a crab puff. Bodhi tastes his sweeping relief more than seafood. “I could probably hack the mainframe quite easily,” Kay proposes, faux casually.</p><p>“<em>No</em>,” Bodhi hears Jyn and Cassian’s voice chorus in unison.</p><p>“Fine, but you’ll regret it later,” Kay warns.</p><p>Just as people are beginning to gather on the lawn and the beach to ready their lantern boats, Kay’s voice pipes up, “Our friend is headed over to the bench now.”</p><p>The next bit of disembodied dialogue to ghost through Bodhi’s ear comes a few nerve wracking moments later. It’s Cassian saying, “Madame Belmar. Well-met.”</p><p>“Are they here?” Bodhi hears a woman’s voice respond, ever so faintly.</p><p>Then his ear piece clicks off, leaving Bodhi to watch and wonder as the party guests float the first lantern boat out onto the dark ocean waves.</p>
<hr/><p>After what feels like an interminable wait and far too many vacuous conversations about the view and the weather in Theed, Luke spots Bodhi weaving his way up to them. He’s always handsome, but in his dress uniform, his hair carefully tamed and slicked down, he looks different. Less like himself, perhaps, but still beautiful and proud.</p><p>“Your highness,” he says, inclining his head towards Leia. He hasn’t been so formal with her recently, so Luke knows this is for the people around them.</p><p>“Enjoying yourself?” Leia asks.</p><p>“The grounds are beautiful. One of the servers mentioned there’s a traditional Naboo water garden that way,” Bodhi nods. “I thought you both might like to see it.”</p><p>Luke feels Leia’s heightened emotions, the press of excitement and worry that mirrors his own. This is the moment.</p><p>“Yes, let’s,” Leia agrees.</p><p>Then, a sudden shiver runs up Luke’s spine. A sense like they’re being —</p><p>“Ah, your highness, we finally cross paths!” a deep and now familiar voice comes from behind them.</p><p>Luke feels closed in by a smothering fog of panic. From himself, from Leia, from Bodhi, all of it converging so he can hardly distinguish what’s his and what isn’t. Still, he turns. Not knowing what lurks is surely worse.</p><p>Behind them is Captain Redel, sharply dressed in an Imperial dress uniform and shrewd expression, standing alongside a human man with graying hair and a moustache in a corresponding uniform.</p><p>“You are Leia Organa, isn’t that right?” the older man says.</p><p>“We’ve been looking for you,” Captain Redel says with a smile that doesn’t reach his cool gray eyes. “The governor was curious to meet the Commonwealth diplomat who drove such a hard bargain.”</p><p>“Governor Veradis,” Leia says, inclining her head. “Captain Redel. Such a pleasure. We were just discussing how beautiful the gardens here are.”</p><p>“Yes, yes, Naboo is truly a beautiful planet. I’m a native, you know, unlike so many of my esteemed colleagues. I could tell you quite a lot about the gardens, if you’re interested,” the governor replies genially, pushing his weight forward on his feet and taking a pleased glance around their surroundings. “Though of course you know something about natural beauty as well. I visited Alderaan many a time, back,” he fumbles. “Well, before.”</p><p>Meanwhile, Redel looks between them all with a distant curiosity — he’s thinking. Luke is absolutely certain nothing good can come from that. “Did your security officers not accompany —” Redel begins quizzically.</p><p>Luke meets Bodhi’s eyes, trying not to panic. Maybe Leia can talk them out of the trap looming before them. But Luke can feel Redel’s rising suspicions, spiky and hardening, and the metallic tang of Bodhi’s fear.</p><p>And then Luke’s mind goes blank with alarm. The only thing he can think of is Owen and Beru back home, waiting. Luke can’t die here. He can’t break their hearts. There is so much he’s left undone and unsaid, still.</p><p>Leia opens her mouth to reply. Her face is calm but Luke knows with utter, terrible certainty, that she herself is not.</p><p>Then, suddenly, a lithe young human woman, hair done up in an elaborate Naboo style, hurries over. She exclaims, “Papa, there you are! And Yann,” she says, pressing a hand to Redel’s arm, “even better. Both in one place. They’re looking for you in the Great Hall. Your speech!”</p><p>“Oh, is it time already?” startles Governor Veradis.</p><p>“Yes, come, come, both of you,” his daughter says, putting a gentle hand on his arm and herding them both forward.</p><p>Redel bows to Leia briefly and then hurries to follow. Just before they disappear beneath a line of manicured bushes, Governor Veradis’s daughter turns back to them, lips pressed together, and gives them a tiny nod.</p><p>Luke exhales heavily, feeling the sweat at the back of his neck. Leia closes her eyes for a long moment. Bodhi’s relief washes over Luke like a surge of rain.</p><p>“Is she one of —” Luke breathes.</p><p>Bodhi shakes his head, eyes wide. “I have no idea,” he whispers back. His gaze skitters in front of him then he says more decisively, “We should move.”</p><p>Luke watches Leia’s expression transform, harden into something utterly determined. In a flash, Luke sees Leia, older, at the helm of a Mon Calamari cruiser. Then he is once more standing in the sprawling gardens, following Bodhi and Leia automatically as they walk toward some more secluded grove, sheltering a small pond filled with brilliant lotuses.</p><p>“She’s waiting for you just there,” Bodhi nods forward down the pebbled path. “Jyn and Cassian are watching the perimeter, they said.”</p><p>Leia breaks into a run, her joy golden and buoyant. Luke, though, finds himself rooted in place. All his life, he’s wondered, and right now he may be as close as he will ever get to either of his parents.</p><p>A soft touch to his back pulls him back into his body. Bodhi’s eyes are dark and kind and familiar.</p><p>“Go. It’s okay,” Bodhi says softly. “I’ll be right here.”</p><p>Luke swallows and nods. And then he goes.</p><p>Bathed in soft, embracing lamplight, below a fruiting tree, Leia is hugging a woman so close and fiercely that their dark hair mingles. They are a storm of emotions.</p><p>Finally, Leia pulls back, though she doesn’t give up her grip on the woman’s sleeve. They do look alike. They have the same dark, piercing eyes.</p><p>“Sabé,” Leia says, joy singing in her voice, “this is Luke.”</p><p>“My goodness,” Sabé murmurs, pressing a hand to her mouth. “Look at the two of you.”</p><p>“Hello,” Luke says, barely more than a whisper.</p><p>“Come here,” Leia insists, beckoning, so Luke does.</p><p>Sabé opens her arms. “May I?” she asks.</p><p>Luke nods, stepping closer and letting himself be enfolded in her arms. She is a slight woman, willowy and worn. It’s nothing like being hugged by Beru and Luke will never be able to say if it’s like being hugged by his mother. But he can feel Sabé’s relief and gratitude and grief, to see him alive.</p><p>When she finally steps back, Sabé claps her hands to Luke’s shoulders and gives a wavering laugh. “You have Anakin’s chin, that’s for certain,” she says.</p><p>It’s nothing Luke hasn’t been told before, but he can barely suppress his wince.</p><p>“But I see something of Padmé in your face, too,” she continues, brushing his cheek softly with her fingers. Then she shakes her head and smiles. “I know we only have a short time together and you must have so many questions,” Sabé says, looking first at Leia then at Luke, studying their faces as if she’s memorizing their features. There is a fierceness there, ringed with desperation. “I’d tell you everything about your mother, if only I could.”</p><p>“But you can!” Leia says, leaning into her. “<em>That’s </em>why I came. To get you out. Come with us, Sabé! You don’t have to stay here.”</p><p>Luke steps back in surprise. He ought to have known, ought to have expected, from the depth of emotion he could feel whenever Leia talked about Sabé. And yet all he has is shock. Leia’s mind has seemed so close to his own. Even so, he never suspected she was harboring some other hope for this mission.</p><p>Luke’s mind whirls — how will they smuggle out an entire person? How will they possibly talk Jyn, Cassian, and Kaytoo into breaking the Commonwealth’s one direct link to Vader? What danger will they be bringing down on themselves, on Bodhi?</p><p>But then Sabé speaks, temperate and soft. “Oh, Leia,” Sabé says, smiling tenderly. “I should have guessed. You have so much of your mother in you.”</p><p>“Say you’ll come with us,” Leia insists.</p><p>“Leia,” Luke murmurs. The hypotheticals are still whirling through his mind — If they have to, will they be able to fight their way out? — but more than that, he can feel the stony strength of Sabé’s conviction. Luke wants to shield Leia from the heartache he senses coming. “I don’t know if —”</p><p>But Sabé holds a soft hand up, stopping him. “Let me,” she says quietly. Then she reaches out and squeezes Leia’s hand. “This is my home, dearest. You would never forsake Alderaan, if it were under Imperial control.”</p><p>“You’ve been here ten years,” Leia protests. “And nothing’s changed. The Empire’s still the same. Naboo’s still overseen by pompous Moffs and incompetent governors. You’re still being followed!”</p><p>“But known Rebellion sympathizers are walking free and elections have been reinstated. The ranks of the Resistance have swelled. It’s not nothing,” Sabé says. “You’re right. It’s not as much as I imagined, when I left, but I have hope.”</p><p>“But you’re practically a prisoner!” Luke feels Leia’s despair spark blue like an engine coil going off.</p><p>“I have no cell, I have cuffs,” Sabé says, her tone remaining even. “If I am a prisoner, I am one far more fortunate than many of our comrades. Am I watched? Certainly. But I’m not mistreated. They’d hardly dare, when they know the Emperor might ask about me.”</p><p>“It’s a poisoned protection,” Leia spits.</p><p>“Maybe so,” Sabé agrees. “But I am perhaps a little wilier than you seem to think, Leia. I have my ways of reaching people. Our network of operatives grows daily; our message spreads. Naboo is hungry for change, for equity. For Imperial officers to stop taking our homes and desecrating our traditions. And,” her tone turns wry, “very, very occasionally, it appears that the Emperor does actually listen when I speak.”</p><p>“Obi-Wan thinks I may have to face him, one day. Fight him,” Leia declares.</p><p>“What?” Luke asks, whipping around to look down at Leia. His mind flashes to all the images he’s ever seen of Vader’s armored bulk and crushing fists, standing like a nightmare stalking the waking world. Luke cannot, no, will not picture Leia, already so beloved, standing alone against that.</p><p>“It’s what I’ve been trained for,” Leia says, looking right back up at him, laying bare something he had not known she held so close. “To kill the Emperor, one day.”</p><p>“<em>Leia</em>,” Luke begins, not knowing how he plans to end, only that his sister has been carrying a burden and he wants to lighten it somehow.</p><p>Sabé presses her hands flat against her ribcage, as if in belated self-protection. “No,” she insists. “Bail and Breha wouldn’t allow it! You are not some lightsaber to be constructed and pointed at a threat.”</p><p>The blood-metal taste of Sabé’s emotions is bitter in Luke’s mouth.</p><p>“I asked to be trained,” Leia says, titling her chin up challengingly. “I’ve been a part of this cause since I was born. You raised me to it just as much as my mother and father.”</p><p>“But how are you supposed to kill him?” Luke wonders. He can’t comprehend the dizzying scale of the idea. “He’s the Emperor. He’s dangerous. And he’s survived so many assassination attempts already.”</p><p>“We could manage it together,” Leia says, a plea and a promise directed equally, it seems, to Luke and Sabé. “All of us together. We could finally finish the Empire.”</p><p>A wave of lightheadedness, edged with nausea, sweeps over Luke. His generation of Guardians has been raised never even to crush buzzing insects if they can do otherwise. Their weathered teachers, Guardians who survived the Struggle via methods they almost never speak of, know too well how becoming a killer weighs on the soul, no matter how worthy the cause. Luke can’t say he wants Vader alive, but he doesn’t know if he wants Anakin Skywalker’s true death on Leia’s soul or his own, either.</p><p>Sabé shakes her head violently. “Leia, you must believe me. Simply killing him won’t bring freedom or end the Empire,” she says. “Do you think I never considered it myself? I did. I still do, sometimes. But I have seen him over and over again for a decade and I know now what I knew years ago. He is just one man.”</p><p>Luke can feel Leia recoil and begin to muster her verbal weapons. But Sabé holds up a gentle hand.</p><p>“A powerful man and a violent one, yes,” Sabé continues. “A person who has done unspeakable things and ordered others to do the same. But the new galaxy your parents, all of them, wish to build? It won’t just spring up because one man has been killed. That is why I stay. Because it is for us to make that galaxy."</p><p>“I won’t say Obi-Wan was wrong to train you. The Jedi were the great guardians of the Republic and I have no doubt,” Sabé reaches out and takes Leia’s hand in her own, “that you are an excellent one. But I have higher hopes for you and for the Jedi than becoming only a sword arm for the Commonwealth. You have so much to give, and so much to build.”</p><p>She turns to Luke and presses her other hand to his cheek. It is cool and welcome, like wind interrupting a stifling desert noon.</p><p>“You both do,” Sabé concludes. “Just as I do, here. I’m certain of it. I would rather you pour yourselves into that.”</p><p>At that moment, from somewhere within his bones, where his mother must have been written into him without his ever knowing, Luke recognizes Tsabin Belmar. A woman who gave up even her name when she was only a child because she believed so deeply in liberty and Padmé Amidala. And though they are still strangers to one another, Luke realizes, he loves her.</p><p>“You know, I was going to rescue you,” Leia says, head dropping down on Sabé’s shoulder, her arms snaking around Sabé’s thin waist in a side hug. “And instead you’ve given me a much more difficult mission.”</p><p>Luke aches with his sister, since he cannot do it for her.</p><p>“Oh, darling. You have been fulfilling that mission since you were a child. I only reminded you,” Sabé says, hugging Leia close. She motions with her free arm to Luke. “Come here,” she says, smiling slightly. “Let me hold you both. I never got to when you were babies, and it’s an aunt’s privilege.”</p><p>This time, Luke goes without hesitation.</p>
<hr/><p>Bodhi waits, just beyond the meeting spot with Belmar, eyes focused on the seashore. Most of the guests are gathered there now, holding their flaming lanterns and laughing. Waiting their turn to reach the lapping water and set the lanterns afloat. The lights swaying against the dark water are beautiful. It’s hard to spare much thought for that, though, when Bodhi’s wondering and worrying about Luke.</p><p>“They’re wishes,” a server explains, holding out a tray of paper lanterns towards Bodhi. “We believe the water grants them, since it is a special night.”</p><p>Bodhi smiles stiffly and takes one. “Thanks,” he says, tilting the paper frame up in acknowledgement. He doesn’t do anything with it. Right now, his greatest wish is to be safely gone from Naboo and he’s not quite ill-natured enough to share that with Naboo’s own sea.</p><p>Finally, finally, Luke and Leia emerge, walking down the pebbled path with their arms linked.</p><p>“You’re alright?” Bodhi asks. He wants to reach out and cup Luke’s cheek, but this isn’t the time or place for that.</p><p>“Yeah,” Luke says softly.</p><p>Bodhi wants to ask a dozen follow-up questions and to run his hands over Luke’s skin while he answers, just for the physical assurance of it. But instead he makes himself take a deep breath in. Then he turns to Leia and asks, “And you?”</p><p>“Better now,” Leia says.</p><p>“Then we’re done. Let’s get the hell out of here,” Jyn’s voice adds in Bodhi’s ear.</p><p>Bodhi agrees entirely. He nearly sinks to his knees in relief when they make it back to their hotel suite.</p><p>They have accomplished what they came for. They’ll depart in the morning, finally leaving behind this planet of beautifully gilded artifice.</p><p>And Luke will be <em>safe</em>. Ensconced in Bodhi’s ship, on their way back home.</p><p>The thought plays in the back of Bodhi’s brain, equal parts hypnotizing and soothing, as he strips out of his dress uniform and readies himself for bed.</p><p>Bodhi desperately wants to be home. He wants to wake to the sound of whispered dawn prayers, eat sweets on the stoop of his childhood home, and listen to his father and Divya spout poetry at dinner. He wants to take out his old speeder bike and drive to the edge of the Old City with Luke, to watch the sunset over the mesas. And to kiss him. There, while they’re bathed in the dying red-orange light of Jedha’s desert sun.</p><p>A quiet knock at the door startles the image out of Bodhi’s mind. When Bodhi opens the door, it’s Luke, his beautiful tunic only partly undone, hugging what looks like sleep clothes to his chest.</p><p>“Hi,” Luke says softly. “Do you think you could help again? I tried to figure it out myself, but — ” He shrugs his shoulders slightly, a wealth of tired bafflement in a tiny gesture.</p><p>“Sure,” Bodhi says, quiet too. In the blue darkness of the night, already stretching its way towards morning, it feels almost as if they are in some enclosed world of only the two of them.</p><p>This time, Bodhi lets his fingers linger over the work, to feel the living warmth of Luke. Showing his hand like this might be no more sensible or logical than it would’ve been in Cloud City, when they’ve got lightyears to cover before they set down in the Holy City once more. But presented with irrefutable physical proof that after all Bodhi’s compounding worry, Luke is well, how can Bodhi not reach out and touch?</p><p>“Are you feeling okay, after everything?” Bodhi finally asks as he gets as far down the tunic as Luke’s stomach. “You didn’t say much, on our way back here.”</p><p>Luke nods but his eyes are unfocused and distant.</p><p>Bodhi presses his lips together, looking for the right phrasing. He wishes he were better with words. “Did meeting Belmar help at all? I’m sure it must have been . . .” he’s not sure what word to even use. He settles on, “Overwhelming.”</p><p>Luke makes a thoughtful humming sound. “Yes. It was overwhelming. And it helped,” he agrees slowly. Bodhi studies his face, still working down the line of the tunic slowly. After a long beat of silence, Luke continues, “I’m glad I met her. I feel like I understand more now.” Luke falls silent for a long beat. Bodhi waits. “She’s very devout, in how much she loves Naboo.” Luke’s voice has a tone of faint wonder.</p><p>Bodhi smiles. “A family resemblance, there?” he teases gently. “You could write tourism adverts for Jedha if you wanted.”</p><p>Luke chuckles, ducking his head slightly. “I really don’t think Baze would approve,” he says.</p><p>“No,” Bodhi laughs briefly, entirely out of relief.</p><p>And then, he’s reached the last hook and Luke’s tunic falls softly open, revealing the same filmy undershirt that’s been haunting Bodhi’s brain since he first saw it. Luke’s cheeks are tinged a familiar pink.</p><p>“I’ll just,” Luke grabs out for the pajamas he brought along and holds them up.</p><p>Bodhi clears his throat awkwardly, feeling a corresponding blush spreading across his own cheeks. “Right,” he agrees, turning around and shuffling over to sit cross-legged on the bed, still facing away.</p><p>Bodhi can hear some huffs of irritation and rustling fabric — presumably Luke fighting with his trousers. Bodhi is beyond tempted to go over, tuck his fingers into Luke’s waistband, and tug him towards the bed so that Bodhi can be the one to unbutton Luke and slide the trousers down over his legs. But deliciously enticing as that possibility is, it’s no way to start this. Not when Bodhi wants the shared sunset as much as a shared bed.</p><p>Finally, he feels the bed depress behind him and Luke’s hand tap at his shoulder.</p><p>“You can turn around,” Luke says.</p><p>Bodhi pushes himself back against the headboard and beside him, Luke shifts over, too, until he’s sitting cross legged next to Bodhi.</p><p>“Comfortable now?” Bodhi asks, turning sideways to look at Luke, faintly rumpled and blinking slowly.</p><p>“Much better,” Luke agrees with a grin. He lapses into silence then, one hand absently trailing up and down his shin.</p><p>“Luke?” Bodhi prompts finally.</p><p>“Yeah,” Luke replies, shaking his head slightly. “Sorry.”</p><p>“Tired?” Bodhi asks.</p><p>Luke turns and tilts his face towards Bodhi then, giving a little nod. “You don’t need to be so worried, though. I really am fine,” he says, answering the question Bodhi hasn’t quite spoken aloud.</p><p>“No cheating,” Bodhi says, elbowing Luke gently in the side though mostly he’s glad to be on familiar ground again.</p><p>Luke wrinkles his nose, but amusement dances in his eyes. “I’m not cheating,” he protests. “I just know you. You worry.”</p><p>“Alright,” Bodhi says, shaking his head, though inside he’s turning over the words — <em>I know you </em>— and savoring them. “Enough character assassination, yeah?”</p><p>“No,” Luke protests, a vein of earnestness showing. “It’s nice. It’s just because you care about people.” He drops his gaze down to his feet and Bodhi’s strangely grateful for that. It would be too much to be looking into Luke’s bright eyes. Bodhi’s chest already feels tight with affection as it is.</p><p>“I’m glad we’re going home,” Luke murmurs, barely above a whisper.</p><p>“Me, too,” Bodhi agrees, letting out a sigh.</p><p>But Luke’s mouth draws into a troubled line. “I think this is just the beginning, though,” he says. “Of whatever’s coming.”</p><p>Bodhi blinks and sits up straighter, waiting for Luke to clarify.</p><p>Finally, reluctantly, Luke begins, “Leia said Ben trained her because —” Then he shakes his head. “No, that’s not really it. I just . . . I think the Force is telling me that there’s more to come. That Leia and I and Vader, there’s more to the story still. I don’t know what it’ll look like. But I think this was just the start.”</p><p>Bodhi’s guts churn at that, because he believes Luke. He wants to wrap Luke up in blankets and hide from the galaxy.</p><p>But Bodhi was raised on Jedha, in the Holy City, and he knows there is nowhere beyond the Force. And as much as the Force is fate, the great turning of the wheel that no one living can ever truly see the whole of, it’s also joy. It’s every song offered up in the courtyards of the Temple and every piece of crockery Luke’s ever lifted with his mind, laughing with delight. Bodhi can only trust — and when he can’t trust, hope — that the Force will not throw Luke, so beloved, into anything he cannot pull himself back up from.</p><p>And he can do this.</p><p>Bodhi shifts up onto his knees and leans into Luke, so he can press his forehead to Luke’s. Close enough that they’re breathing the same air. “I promise,” he whispers. “No matter what, I will be right there. Anything you need.”</p><p>Bodhi hears, can almost taste, Luke’s sharp intake of breath. Against him, Luke shifts so their noses brush. The tiny space between them is humid with anticipation.</p><p>“Bodhi,” Luke says, breathy. “Can I — Do you —”</p><p>Bodhi feels dizzy, gripping at Luke’s upper arms. What is Luke <em>waiting</em> for? Then it hits him — Guardians may take only what is freely given, and of course in this of all things, Luke would wish to be sure.</p><p>“<em>Yes</em>,” Bodhi says, slipping his hands up to cup Luke’s face. He has never been more certain of an answer.</p><p>Luke gives a little hiccuping gasp, and then finally, finally presses his lips to Bodhi’s.</p><p>All the careful lines Bodhi’s drawn for himself melt away, immaterial in the face of this single kiss. One taste, and all of Bodhi’s limbs ache for more.</p><p>“That was,” Luke swallows, “that was okay?” It’s a breath as much as a word.</p><p>“Yeah,” Bodhi promises, already reaching to tug Luke back to him. “That was perfect.”</p><p>Bodhi pulls Luke into another kiss and another and another, until they’re breathless and the sky outside the window has started its journey towards dawn.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sorry about the unannounced delay between this and the previous chapter! In the past week, I have moved and started school, so as you can imagine it's been All the Things, All the Time. But the next, last chapter should hopefully be up this weekend?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It’s a six-day journey from Naboo to Hosnia and the entire time Luke is intensely aware of his skin, of every moment he and Bodhi so much as brush past one another. Luke’s never had much of a head for poetry. But he finds himself thinking, at the most absurd times — while making lunch for everyone, or in the middle of training with Leia — that the Jedhan poets got it right. Desire <em>is</em> like burning; kisses are a personal monsoon. Long-awaited, lush, exhilarating.</p>
<p>Of course, it’s hardly as if they’re staring into each other’s eyes every spare moment. Monsoon Echo’s a working ship with demands of her own, and Luke’s missed a <em>lot </em>of university classes, has piles of borrowed notes to sort through. Besides, neither he nor Bodhi are quite ready yet to speak what’s between them out into the greater world. Right now, it’s theirs alone.</p>
<p>But the way Jyn narrows her eyes at him, investigatory, nearly drives Luke to squirming in his seat like a child. By the time they land in the Capital on Hosnian Prime, Luke’s almost certain Leia’s figured it out too, though she’s kind enough not to say anything.</p>
<p>Instead she just tugs him forward across the landing bay, pointing out landmarks and naming towering buildings. The force of all that life, all those people gathered together so densely, reaching up toward the sky, hits Luke in the chest and leaves him blinking, almost dizzy. NiJedha is large and crowded and hectic, but it’s familiar.</p>
<p>The Capital is its own beast. Sprawling and sleek and overwhelming, with all of its collective eyes turned towards the future.</p>
<p>Leia squeezes his arm. “Deep breath,” she advises. “We’re not even at the Center, yet.”</p>
<p>While Bodhi reports to the Capital Fleet base and Jyn, Cassian, and Kay head off to some more clandestine rendezvous, Luke lets himself be lead into Leia’s domain.</p>
<p>She has a beautiful apartment in the Center of the city, only a short speeder ride to the Ministry of Diplomacy and the Chief Minister’s newly completed residence. The living room walls are decorated with delicate ink paintings of Alderaanian landscapes and her bedroom reveals that she has a weakness for large, jeweled rings. They share a bond that allows them to know more of each other’s brains than Luke knew was possible, but even so, seeing where she lives offers a peek behind the curtains.</p>
<p>Leia drags him out later for dinner at her favorite local restaurant, where she plies him with half a dozen Hosnian dishes that it’s apparently imperative he try.</p>
<p>“Well, I have to repay you for introducing me to pema noodles,” Leia laughs, after pressing some kind of seaweed concoction on him. Luke can’t help but let his doubts show, though when he takes a tentative bite, it’s pleasantly crunchy and subtly flavored.</p>
<p>“You should listen to me,” Leia says archly.</p>
<p>“You think everyone should listen to you,” Luke responds, feeling the deep well of affection he already has for her. It seems strange and impossible that they have only known each other for weeks. Luke sometimes feels like all of this joy and love was simply buried and awaiting his sister to unearth itself.</p>
<p>“They should,” Leia agrees with a grin.</p>
<p>They’ve only just returned to Leia’s apartment when her comm goes off. She glances at it and nearly drops it, a flare of hot anger competing with an undercurrent of concern and interest.</p>
<p>“It’s Ben. Obi-Wan,” she says, looking up.</p>
<p>Luke stares down at her palm. Not that he’s had reason to see a thermal detonator in real life, but he imagines the feeling is similar. “Are you going to take it?”</p>
<p>Leia looks back at him, with those discerning eyes. “I am,” she says. “Will you talk to him?”</p>
<p>“He’s calling <em>you</em>,” Luke responds, bristling. Maybe it’s hypocritical or unkind to still be angry with Ben when he’s forgiven his aunt and uncle. But they never left him.</p>
<p>Leia huffs, her free hand on her hip. “You have to talk to him some time. He’ll keep trying. It might as well be now.”</p>
<p>Luke thoroughly disagrees, on multiple fronts. But before he can voice his objections, Leia answers the trilling comm. A small, blue holo-image blooms to life before them.</p>
<p>“Luke!” Ben says. He looks older, with new wrinkles and thinner hair. It’s a shock. “You’ve grown so much.”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Luke agrees, working his jaw. “Well, it’s been ten years.”</p>
<p>Ben’s eyes press closed and stay that way for long enough that Luke feels a tiny prickle of guilt in his gut. It doesn’t last long though, because Ben opens his eyes and turns to Leia and says, “Perhaps you might give us a moment.”</p>
<p>“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Luke replies. He can <em>feel</em> his own petulance, an oil spill over the top of the rest of his emotions, but he can’t control it.</p>
<p>“No,” Leia says slowly, eyes narrowed. “I think it is.” She wants him to grit his teeth and get through this, Luke knows without having to grab out for it. “You and I will speak later,” she tells Ben. “Sabé doesn’t like your plan to confront Vader.”</p>
<p>Something like a wry smile flickers over Ben’s face. “I hope you let her know it isn’t exactly my preferred solution, either. I rather like having your aunt as a friend,” he says.</p>
<p>“We can talk about how you can keep it that way,” Leia says. “I think Mother and Father might prefer her suggestions to yours anyway.”</p>
<p>“Then we must take her advice into account. We can hardly put too great a weight on your parents’ good graces,” Ben says, with warmth in his eyes.</p>
<p>They speak to each other with a deep familiarity.</p>
<p>"Alright," Leia says, squeezing Luke's arm. "I'll leave two to talk." She hands over the comm and walks out of the room. Luke follows her with his gaze, rather than look at Ben's holoimage.</p>
<p>"Luke," says Ben. He still sounds the same, patient and resonant. Luke wants to be comforted by that, and yet he refuses to be lulled so easily.</p>
<p>“So. You were on Alderaan the whole time,” Luke states.</p>
<p>“Yes,” Ben agrees. "I could watch over Leia and lend a hand more easily in the fight against the Empire, there. But, Luke, I never intended —"</p>
<p>Luke’s not interested in intentions shared after the fact. “You said we’d see you again!” Luke hisses. “And you never came.”</p>
<p>“I <em>did</em>,” Ben says softly. “I came with Breha. On her state visit."</p>
<p>Luke takes an instinctive step back, nearly upsetting the comm balanced in his palm. “No, you didn’t,” he counters. “We never saw you.”</p>
<p>“No,” Ben agrees. “You see, I thought . . . perhaps it was time. To bring you and Owen and Beru to Alderaan. But I needed to see for myself how you all were doing, before I uprooted you once more."</p>
<p>Luke sits down heavily on the couch. The thought of what could have been is dizzying.</p>
<p>"I talked Breha into allowing me to come. She thought it was too dangerous, for myself, for the delegation and for Jedha. But she was curious about you, too. She wanted to know you were well and so she assented, as long as we were cautious." Ben looks down at his intertwined hands. "I saw you at the Temple of the Kyber that day. You glowed in the Force. I couldn't take that away from you. You and Owen and Beru were thriving, and Jedha had kept you safe.”</p>
<p>There is a great sadness in Ben’s eyes, one that Luke recognizes all too well from his childhood. He never knew then, what Ben mourned.</p>
<p>“It was clear to me that the Force wanted you there, though I didn't know why,” Ben finishes. “And I couldn't force you to abandon your home a second time, Luke."</p>
<p>Luke swallows. "You could have come to visit us, at least."</p>
<p>"I wanted to," Ben says, stroking his beard. "But Breha wasn't wrong. It was tempting fate, for me to come to Jedha with such a large Imperial bounty on my head. I know the state of the moon had improved a great deal since the occupation, but it was still a waystation for all kinds of travelers, unsavory types included.”</p>
<p>Luke shivers. That, he knows, is true enough. NaJedha’s lifeblood was never theft and extortion, like on Tatooine. But the black market in looted Jedhan goods that had thrived under the Imperial occupation and the assorted other criminal enterprises it attracted had been difficult to root out. Even now, the work is still ongoing.</p>
<p>Ben shakes his head. “Within a day of our arrival, I had attracted the notice of some very persistent bounty hunters. I couldn't risk leading them to you, or countenance a violent confrontation when the city was finally calm. And," Ben admits, "it was hard to bear the thought of another good-bye. An old man's folly."</p>
<p>Luke can't sense anyone's feelings at a distance, but he hardly needs that to see the guilt Ben carries. "I wish you had tried to talk to us," Luke says, at last.</p>
<p>"As do I," Ben replies solemnly. "I have missed you all. Dearly."</p>
<p>It’s difficult to meet his gaze. Luke clears his throat. “I could tell you how Owen and Beru are doing,” he offers.</p>
<p>“Please do,” Ben agrees, his features softening into a warm, eager smile.</p>
<p>They speak for a while longer, before Luke hands Leia back her comm so she can finish her own conversation with Ben. Luke fits himself into a window seat and stares out into the sparkling lights of the city against the deep night darkness. There is still so much left to talk about, with Ben. But they will have time now. Luke will make sure that promise is kept.</p>
<p>Leia startles him out of his thoughts some indeterminate time later, pushing his feet aside so she can squeeze into the window seat as well. “Ben’s hoping you’ll come to Alderaan soon. Or that we’ll visit you on Jedha, together.” She pats his ankle.</p>
<p>“You could meet Owen and Beru,” Luke says. “I could show you both the caves.”</p>
<p>“I’d like that,” Leia says softly.</p>
<p>“Me too,” Luke says. Then he takes a breath in and continues, “There are things we’re meant to do together, bigger things, aren’t there? You feel it too, right?”</p>
<p>Leia’s eyebrows draw together and her gaze is distant, resolute. “Yes,” she agrees. “I think there’s a great deal still to come for the two of us.”</p>
<p>“At least,” Luke offers softly, “it’ll be together.”</p>
<p>Leia reaches out and squeezes his head. “Yes, together,” she promises.</p><hr/>
<p>When Bodhi wakes in the morning, in the flat Jyn, Cassian, and Kay stay in when they’re on Hosnian Prime (it shows clear signs of only periodic use — there are no houseplants or unfolded blankets strewn across the couch), he’s the only one there. That’s not surprising, really. Bodhi’s certain there are a lot of very important people who want to hear the first-hand account of Vader that Jyn, Cassian, and Kay are carrying. It’s probably even odds on whether Bodhi will see them before leaving.</p>
<p>But when Bodhi checks his comm, he’s got a message waiting from Cassian confirming that they’re at Intelligence headquarters again, but will meet him on the landing bay to say good-bye later in the morning.</p>
<p>The Capital is settled in a sub-tropical climate and the architecture, filled with sleek metallic towers richly engraved with decoration, leaves many in raptures. Bodhi still finds the city cold. The skyline is indeed breathtaking. But everything is a beautiful symbol of the Commonwealth — inspiring and admirable and stark.</p>
<p>Bodhi comes from NiJedha, ancient and enduring, where the Temple still rises and watches over the newest developments and the oldest plazas alike. In comparison, the Capital feels like a place yet to truly build its soul.</p>
<p>He won’t mind leaving it behind, he thinks, as he starts his preliminary pre-flight walkaround of Monsoon Echo. Luke hasn’t arrived yet, but they’ve got time still.</p>
<p>Bodhi’s just swung around a wing, when he hears, “Made sure there’s no runaway princesses this time?”</p>
<p>It’s Jyn, hollering across the landing bay. She’s accompanied, of course, by Cassian and Kay.</p>
<p>“Double checked, even!” Bodhi calls back. “I’m being careful this time. I want that vacation.”</p>
<p>Cassian claps him on the shoulder when they’re close enough. “It’s certainly deserved.”</p>
<p>“Sure you don’t need a lift somewhere?” Bodhi asks.</p>
<p>“It is unlikely that we will receive orders off-planet prior to your departure,” Kay replies. “And I don’t want to be shut in that hiding place again.” He tilts his head and finally amends, “For at least another standard month. Minimum.”</p>
<p>Bodhi dips his chin. “Can’t argue with that,” he admits.</p>
<p>Cassian shakes his head slightly up at Kay, though his eyes are amused. “Perhaps more importantly, we have quite a bit of work here. It was an interesting meeting with Belmar.”</p>
<p>“Also,” Jyn says, hooking a hand over Cassian’s shoulder and leaning into him, “I’ve got a feeling you might appreciate some privacy.”</p>
<p>Bodhi splutters. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says, though he’s certain his quickly heating cheeks have given him away once and for all.</p>
<p>Jyn snorts. “We’re spies,” she says. “And you’re not nearly as sneaky as you think you are.”</p>
<p>“Sneaky enough to fool the Imps,” Bodhi counters, a little sulky, because honestly what was the point of being discreet if Jyn was just going to tease him anyway.</p>
<p>“Well, thankfully, we’re better at our jobs than they are,” Cassian says, beginning to smile. Bodhi knows if he loses Cassian, he might as well give up hope for his sense of personal dignity. But then Cassian looks down at Jyn, eyebrows raised, and adds, “And we're also good friends, who don’t bother people about their romantic lives.”</p>
<p>Jyn meets his gaze and Bodhi can see the way her shoulders soften. “Very mature of us,” she says. “Alright,” she says, turning back to Bodhi. “Well, in that case, I suppose we ought to say our good-byes and be off.”</p>
<p>Bodhi mouths a thank you to Cassian as he hugs Jyn and then soon after, they’re walking off across the landing bay, leaving Bodhi to finish his inspection.</p>
<p>Luke and Leia drive up shortly after in a sleek speeder, Leia behind the controls. Bodhi takes a moment to admire it and another to say good-bye to Leia.</p>
<p>“I am sorry I caused you so much trouble,” Leia says. “But I consider myself quite lucky I picked your ship. Thank you for looking out for both of us.”</p>
<p>Maybe it’s just an impulse on her part, but Leia throws out her arms and pulls Bodhi into a hug. After a moment’s surprise — he’s never been hugged by royalty before — Bodhi recovers and tentatively hugs back.</p>
<p>“Take good care of my brother,” Leia’s voice whispers, soft and sad, into his ear. “Please.”</p>
<p>Bodhi feels an ache forming in his throat. “I do,” he promises. “I will.”</p>
<p>Leia nods, squeezes tightly, and then steps back. “Until next time, then,” she says.</p>
<p>Bodhi ducks his head in a nod, finding himself smiling. “Until next time,” he agrees.</p>
<p>Luke is smiling down at the ground. Because he has the impulse to and there’s nothing keeping him from it now, Bodhi presses a quick kiss to Luke’s cheek. “I’ll give you two some time to yourselves,” he says when he pulls away.</p>
<p>He retreats into Monsoon Echo, breathing in the comforting scent of the ship and goes through the final steps of his pre-departure routine, finally settling into the pilot’s seat to wait.</p>
<p>Not long after, Bodhi hears the ramp retracting and footsteps approaching.</p>
<p>“Hi,” Luke says, plopping down in the co-pilot’s seat.</p>
<p>“Hi,” Bodhi echoes back, smiling helplessly.</p>
<p>Luke grins then, looking inordinately pleased, and then for a flash, oddly shy about his pleasure. He turns forward and fixes his gaze out the cockpit viewport. A wave of utter affection sweeps over Bodhi, leaving his nerves tingling.</p>
<p>“You ready?” Bodhi asks, looking at Luke’s face in profile.</p>
<p>Luke breathes in, turns back to Bodhi and smiles. “Yeah,” he says. “Let’s go home.”</p><hr/>
<p>The blaring alarm slams its way into Luke’s lovely dreams, wrenching him out of them. Acting more on physical instinct than conscious thought, Luke scrambles to turn it off. Then he switches on a light and sits up, rubbing at his eyes. By Luke’s side, there’s a protesting groan as Bodhi rolls over, away from the light.</p>
<p>Warmth blooms in Luke’s stomach, looking down at Bodhi’s messy hair and stubbornly closed eyes. Luke’s never shared a bed with someone . . . someone he’s kissing before. Because the curve of Bodhi’s ear is so sweet, Luke bends over to press his lips there.</p>
<p>“Wake up,” he whispers, staying close. “Do you want to do dawn prayers with me?”</p>
<p>Bodhi blows breath out of his nose and then after a beat, nods slightly. “Yeah,” he says, voice sleep-creaky.</p>
<p>It takes them a few minutes to slough off their sleepiness and settle on the floor. The closeness of Bodhi’s presence in the Force beside him as Luke closes his eyes is like a comforting blanket thrown over his shoulders.</p>
<p>When Luke opens his eyes again, Bodhi smiles at him and says, “We’re going to be in hyperspace all day. What do you feel like doing?”</p>
<p>Luke thinks for a moment and then confesses, “Going back to bed.” He doesn’t often have the luxury at home, where dawn prayers are the opening of Temple duties. But after everything that’s happened in the past couple of weeks, his body is ready for a little hibernation.</p>
<p>Bodhi laughs, leans forward, and gives Luke a sweet, lingering kiss. It leaves Luke warm all over, as if he’s been standing on the farm roof back home at mid-day.</p>
<p>“No arguments here,” Bodhi agrees, holding out a hand.</p>
<p>They settle back into Bodhi’s bed together. Excitement jumps in Luke’s stomach as he slides his fingers up under the hem of Bodhi’s undershirt, eager for the novelty of being able to touch. Bodhi hums, settling in closer. Almost as soon as Luke closes his eyes, he tumbles back into dreams.</p>
<p>Later, they wake and lazily kiss until they are hungry enough to extricate themselves from their shared cocoon of sleep warmth. Once they’ve eaten, Bodhi sighs and confesses to needing to do his usual check-ins around Monsoon Echo.</p>
<p>“If I don’t look in on the engines and Monsoon Echo ends up needing patch-ups I didn’t notice, the local Fleet base mechanics’ll never let me hear the end of it,” Bodhi says.</p>
<p>“Go,” Luke agrees with a little push. “You gotta take good care of your girl.” Luke sighs and admits glumly, “And I should probably try to tackle some of my schoolwork.”</p>
<p>“No, uh, no exception for unexpected sisters dragging you on adventures of galactic importance?” Bodhi asks, his eyes as warm as his smile.</p>
<p>“No,” Luke pouts. “There should be.”</p>
<p>Bodhi runs his fingers briefly through Luke’s hair. It feels delicious. “Come up to the cockpit when you need a break,” Bodhi says.</p>
<p>Luke tips his head up, a request, and Bodhi gives him the asked for kiss. Luke watches Bodhi walk out of the room, kicking his feet beneath the table, too happy to keep still. Then with a sigh, he goes to retrieve his datapads.</p>
<p>A couple of hours later, Luke surfaces from his seasonal rivers modelling satisfied that even if he’s not exactly caught up, he’s done about as much as can be accomplished for the time being.</p>
<p>When he enters the cockpit, Bodhi looks up from the pilot’s seat. His pleased contentment glows golden. Luke wants to bask in the feeling, curl up and press his face to Bodhi’s neck, or slot himself between Bodhi and the controls and bury his fingers in Bodhi’s hair.</p>
<p>And incredibly, astonishingly, Luke now knows that Bodhi wouldn’t mind. He might laugh or tease or blush, but he’d happily wrap his arms around Luke.</p>
<p>“Doing anything important?” Luke asks, leaning against the side of the co-pilot’s seat.</p>
<p>“Not really,” Bodhi says, the laugh lines at the corners of his eyes emerging. “Did you get a lot of studying done?”</p>
<p>“So much,” Luke says, indulging in a little melodrama. “I think I deserve a prize.”</p>
<p>“Mm,” Bodhi agrees, amusement lighting up his expression. “What did you have in mind?”</p>
<p>“Oh, something like this,” Luke says. Feeling a thrill, Luke leans forward, reaching out to frame Bodhi’s face, and kisses him. Bodhi makes a pleased noise in the back of his throat. Luke slips one hand to the back of Bodhi’s neck and deepens the kiss, savoring the taste of Bodhi’s lips and tongue. “Bodhi,” he mumbles restlessly, trying to shift closer. “I want, can I —”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Bodhi murmurs, tugging Luke sideways and closer, until Luke’s legs are up against the edge of the pilot’s seat. “Yeah, come here.”</p>
<p>Luke can feel the flush run through him as he slides up onto Bodhi’s lap. He leans in, pressing his forehead to Bodhi’s for just a moment. Then he captures Bodhi’s lips again, threading his fingers into Bodhi’s silky hair and throwing himself into the waves of sensation. At the electric feel of Bodhi’s warm hands sliding up his thighs, Luke gasps.</p>
<p>“Good?” Bodhi whispers.</p>
<p>“Yes,” Luke says, breathless and giddy as he pulls back just enough to look into Bodhi’s eyes. “I’ve always wanted to do this,” he confesses, feeling his cheeks going warm.</p>
<p>Bodhi bites his lower lip, but it doesn’t last because he’s smiling so much. Luke likes that expression on him so much.</p>
<p>“Make out with me in the pilot’s seat of a ship?” Bodhi asks.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Luke says, winding a strand of Bodhi’s loose hair around his finger. “Or maybe just anyone, even. I never got to spend much time on ships.” This confession probably ought to be embarrassing. Only here and now it isn’t, because this is Bodhi, who he’s shared far more embarrassing things with well before kissing ever seemed anything like an option. “I always had a feeling that it would be exciting.” The reality, though, far surpasses anything Luke ever dreamed up.</p>
<p>“Anyone, huh?” Bodhi asks, raising his eyebrows. Luke can feel his amusement though, a bright airiness between them.</p>
<p>“Definitely you, though!” Luke amends, smiling helplessly, sliding his thumbs over Bodhi’s cheekbones. “Specifically. And on this ship.”</p>
<p>“Well,” Bodhi murmurs, leaning forward to rub his rough cheek against Luke’s throat, the feeling of it shivering down Luke’s spine, “we should probably make the most of this, then.”</p>
<p>“Yes,” Luke sighs in pleasure.</p><hr/>
<p>It’s still almost a week until the first day of the Return, but even from the air, Bodhi can see how the city’s already swelled in anticipation — the temporary shelters and encampments have popped up at the edges of the New City, the seasonal tram routes are clearly already running.</p>
<p>“It really is bigger this year,” Luke murmurs, leaning forward. “Look, that’s the new route out to the Pyali campgrounds.”</p>
<p>Bodhi nods, feeling a kind of pressing at his sternum. He has only patchy memories of what the Return was like before the Empire — impressions of the sun overhead, snatches of songs, and the way he clung to his Amma’s hand so he wouldn’t get lost in the pressing crowd — but there can be no doubt that the Return has slowly grown back in the years since the occupation ended.</p>
<p>“I bet landing’s a nightmare for civilian ships right now.” Bodhi finally says, tearing his eyes away.</p>
<p>Luke nods. “Last year we had people whose ships were all the way out in Behaan. They were taking the high speed train into Central Station everyday.”</p>
<p>“Good thing I get a free berth at the Fleet base,” Bodhi says, shooting a grin at Luke. He’s back in his Guardian’s robes, shoulders loose, an eager look on his face as the city grows closer beneath them.</p>
<p>Bodhi circles out past the walls of the New City toward the Fleet training base and eases Monsoon Echo down softly into the spot waiting for her.</p>
<p>“Nice landing,” Luke says, leaning so far over towards Bodhi he’s almost falling out of his seat. His smile is so bright there might as well be a glare.</p>
<p>“Uh-huh?” Bodhi responds, unable to keep from smiling back. It was a completely unremarkable landing. He knows it and Luke certainly does, too.</p>
<p>Luke bites his lip. “Yeah. Very smooth,” he says.</p>
<p>When Luke pushes forward to close the gap between them, Bodhi leans in to meet him. It’s only been a few days, but every preference Luke’s voiced and every startled, pleased gasp of his is etched into Bodhi’s memory. Bodhi puts all of it to as good use as he can. Luke makes a sound in the back of his throat that warms Bodhi’s stomach.</p>
<p>Luke keeps his forehead pressed to Bodhi’s for a moment after they part, breathing hard. “Okay,” he says. “We can go now.”</p>
<p>Bodhi laughs, gives into the urge to swipe his thumb over Luke’s lower lip, and then reaches for his hand, so they can walk out together.</p>
<p>As soon as Bodhi lowers the landing ramp, the desert air rushes in and so does something else. Bodhi’s nearly knocked backwards when someone barrels into him, dark hair getting in his mouth. He catches a split second glimpse of his sister Asha coming up the ramp, the wind tangling her hair and dangling earrings.</p>
<p>“Oof,” Bodhi manages as the arms around him squeeze tighter. If he hadn’t already figured it out, that motion alone would give away that it’s Divya, the only person Bodhi’s ever known to treat hugging like a sporting competition. And then, “What are you two doing here?”</p>
<p>Divya pinches him, which Bodhi thinks is deeply unwarranted. “<em>Ow</em>, Divya!”</p>
<p>Bodhi hears Luke laugh softly, behind him.</p>
<p>Asha reaches out and clasps Bodhi’s free shoulder. “We thought we’d better escort you back home, make sure neither of you got waylaid this time,” she says. “Amma wouldn’t take it well, with the Return right around the corner.”</p>
<p>Bodhi grunts in agreement.</p>
<p>“Your aunt and uncle will be glad you’re home,” Asha adds, turning to Luke.</p>
<p>Divya lets go then to let Asha take her turn at squeezing Bodhi’s ribs uncomfortably.</p>
<p>Despite Bodhi’s vocal protests, Divya ends up the one in the driver’s seat of the rented speeder. Luke and Asha pile into the backseat, where she alternates between drilling him on how his university studies are going and sharing new holos of Tarika. Bodhi would try to rescue him, except he keeps getting distracted by Divya’s flying, or rather the lack thereof.</p>
<p>“Can you speed up even a <em>little </em>bit?” Bodhi asks, staring at Divya.</p>
<p>She shakes her head vigorously. “Do you see the traffic? You should just be glad we came and gave you a ride. The trams are packed.”</p>
<p>“At this pace,” Bodhi informs her, “we could’ve walked home faster.”</p>
<p>But they do eventually make it home, where Amma and Abbu are waiting on the stoop, joined by Owen and Beru. Amma starts fussing over him the moment he’s hopped out of the speeder, embracing him. She asks in rapid succession if he’s eaten, if he’s slept enough, if he’ll be able to stay for the whole of the Return. Abbu rests a hand on Bodhi’s head for a moment, a blessing that Bodhi leans into. In the background, Divya and Asha speak over each other, and over Bodhi’s shoulder, there’s an indistinct murmur that must be Luke and his family, half-covered by the sounds of the neighborhood.</p>
<p>“Come in,” Amma urges quietly, gesturing them all inside.</p>
<p>Bodhi turns back to find Luke — but he’s folded into a tight hug with his aunt, his head ducked. Bodhi feels a little ache of tenderness seeing them there, with Owen standing close beside.</p>
<p>“Thank you for bringing him home,” Owen says, nodding up at Bodhi, his hand still resting on Luke’s shoulder.</p>
<p>“Of course,” Bodhi says, meaning it entirely, with every bit of his muscle and bone. <em>Always</em>, he wants to add. But that should be for Luke alone, first.</p>
<p>“You’ll come for dinner?” Amma asks from the doorway.</p>
<p>“Oh,” Beru says with a watery laugh, “yes. That would be lovely.”</p>
<p>Dinner that evening is crowded and plentiful with both food and company, different scents and conversations competing. Mid-conversation with Arvind, who wants Bodhi’s opinion on the best speeder to buy, Bodhi catches Luke’s eye across the table, where he’s sandwiched between his aunt and uncle. Luke smiles and Bodhi can only think of how much he wants to kiss him, and wake up to the sight of his tousled hair, and sit on the courtyard wall holding his hand and watching the city.</p>
<p>But there’s plenty of time for all of that, now that they’re home.</p><hr/>
<p>Luke rises earlier than the sun, writes out a note so Owen and Beru won’t worry, and takes the same route he did for years to the Temple. He crosses the threshold of the courtyard just in time to join dawn prayers, the red-gold sunlight breaking over the Temple’s great spire.</p>
<p>Lian smiles at him, presses a cool hand to his neck as they settle onto the stones, legs tucked beneath them. Luke closes his eyes and breathes in. The singing kyber comes into focus.</p>
<p>"Staying for breakfast?" asks Devi, when they're done.</p>
<p>Luke's stomach rumbles and he looks with some longing at the living quarters where he knows warm tea and breads await.</p>
<p>"No," he says, "I should get home, have breakfast with Owen and Beru. I'll be back later."</p>
<p>"Go, go," Chirrut says, shooing him toward the exit. "We will discuss your duties for the Return when you come back."</p>
<p>When Luke gets home, he follows the scent of onions and frying oil into the kitchen. He finds Owen and Beru working side by side, Beru rolling out the same onion-flecked flatbreads her mother made, Owen tossing them onto the griddle to fry.</p>
<p>“These are my favorite,” Luke declares, pulling one off the stack, hot enough still to bite at his fingertips. They taste like his best memories of Tatooine.</p>
<p>“Why do you think we’re making them?” Owen asks.</p>
<p>Beru flicks her hands towards the dining table. “Sit down and eat,” she insists. “Don’t just stand there.”</p>
<p>When Owen and Beru join him, Owen asks between bites, “They need you back at the Temple?”</p>
<p>“There’s already so many people here this year,” Beru observes, hands cupped around her mug of caf.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Luke says, feeling the momentary dip of disappointment they both push down. “But I’ll come back for lunch. And I thought maybe I could sleep here, for a couple nights.”</p>
<p>Since he moved to the Guardian’s living quarters, he’s rarely stayed the night at home this close to the Return. But last night, laying and listening to the hum of vaporators overhead, the murmur of Owen and Beru settling into bed, had unwound Luke’s muscles, let him drift into a deep and dreamless sleep. And he knows, of course, that Owen and Beru want him here — it whispers beneath everything else.</p>
<p>“Yes,” Beru says, reaching out and pressing his hand across the table. “Do that.”</p>
<p>But momentous as a child coming home from off-moon might be in their own family, the march of the city goes on. In the afternoon, when he’s returned from the Temple and they’ve finished lunch, Owen and Beru leave him to the house and his neglected studies. They’re needed at their farm collective’s meeting hall to discuss final preparations for all the extra water they’ll be supplying the pop-up pilgrim settlements during the Return.</p>
<p>The day is turning toward a sweet-smelling evening and Luke sees, out of the corner of his eye, movement through Bodhi’s window across the narrow alley. The temptation is irresistible — Luke opens his window, hefts a pebble from the stack on the sill (gathered specifically for this purpose for years, a habit he never quite kicked even after Bodhi left for the Academy). He pelts Bodhi’s window with it using the Force.</p>
<p>After a moment, the curtains part and Bodhi’s face appears, grinning, as he pushes open his window. “You know, you don't have to keep showing off,” he says, but even from a distance his affection is as soft and warm as a caress.</p>
<p>“Come out with me?” Luke asks. He feels like his smile is threatening to take over his face, but Bodhi’s grinning back at him from across the alley.</p>
<p>“Don’t your aunt and uncle want you at home?” Bodhi asks.</p>
<p>It goes without saying that Bodhi’s parents certainly want him at home, when he’s the one who disappeared back off on a mission not even a day into his attempt at leave.</p>
<p>“Yeah, but they’re down at the farm collective meeting. They’ll be there for hours, probably,” Luke says. It’s true, but of course the greater truth beneath it is that after three whole days when he could touch Bodhi whenever he wished, it seems impossible to know Bodhi is only next door and still stay away.</p>
<p>Bodhi glances over his shoulder and then gives Luke a quick jerk of the head and a grin. “Yeah, alright. Meet me in the alley.”</p>
<p>They wander together through the crowd-swollen streets. Feeling oddly daring, Luke reaches out for Bodhi’s hand and tangles their fingers together. Piece-by-piece, stopping at different vendors along the way, they construct a feast of snack foods — fried and crunchy, gooey and sweet — and drinks the fizzy sweet-salty taste of the hopeful Jedhan spring.</p>
<p>“We could go watch the sunset,” Bodhi proposes, holding up half of a still hot custard tart for Luke to take a bite of.</p>
<p>It’s hardly intimate compared to the way Luke mapped over the slope of Bodhi’s shoulders first with his hands and then his lips, hardly more than a day ago. But even so, brushing the tips of Bodhi’s fingers with his lips is an almost surreal pleasure.</p>
<p>“Back on Naboo, I was thinking, that’s what I would’ve done if we were home. For a first date,” Bodhi follows up. He swipes his hands on a napkin and then darts in to press a kiss to Luke’s cheek before retreating, a hint of a blush high on his cheekbones.</p>
<p>“Oh,” Luke says, beaming in a way that’s probably ridiculous. He’s spent so many years wanting and here Bodhi is, confessing to building what-ifs in his own head. Luke clears his throat and says, “Well. In that case, I know a spot where we could go.”</p>
<p>Luke puts on his best smile, shoulders back like a good young Guardian, and approaches the slightly dubious, bored-looking Abeneedo woman serving as the evening warden at the western wall outpost. He talks her into letting them up onto the rampart walkway. It’s just been hosed down and cleaned for the crowds that will be circumambulating the city once the Return begins.</p>
<p>They settle on a bench, spreading out their goodies to either side of them.</p>
<p>The view is magnificent, the vast red desert unfolding beyond them — the uncanny natural arches and the windswept mesas, the dusty valleys between, with the shine of Behaan in the distance and the bustle of the New City just below.</p>
<p>The sunset is a golden glare over the cliffs at the edge of the Dua Flats.</p>
<p>Luke takes a breath in and turns to look at Bodhi, his face lit by the setting sun. He is, of course, beautiful, too. And this time, Luke thinks, there is no reason to keep quiet. Not when they’re home and pressed side-by-side, so close Luke can feel the warmth of Bodhi’s body. So Luke speaks.</p>
<p>“I love you,” he says.</p>
<p>That’s been true in some form or another for years. Ever since he was a child and only knew he wanted Bodhi’s attention. Even when he’d rediscovered the little flip in his stomach at Bodhi’s smile, but harbored no hopes of Bodhi loving him back in the same way. But Luke means it differently now that he’s felt exactly how much care there is in Bodhi’s emotions, in his touch. Now, it’s as if Luke’s love has finally settled into his soul, where it’s always belonged. And he wants Bodhi to know.</p>
<p>Before Luke can even take another breath, Bodhi’s hands are cupping his face, drawing him in for a deep, heady kiss. Luke presses back, suddenly and immediately desperate for the heat of Bodhi’s mouth. He grips at Bodhi’s loose kurta because it feels like it’s the only thing keeping him from floating off.</p>
<p>When they break away, panting, Bodhi presses his nose to Luke’s cheek, nuzzling there. “I love you, too,” he murmurs into the tiny space between them. "So much."</p>
<p>Luke feels Bodhi’s joy and certainty wash over him, a brilliant red-gold to rival any sunset. He buries his fingers in Bodhi’s hair, urging Bodhi back into a series of long, breath-stealing kisses.</p>
<p>Eventually, reluctantly, they settle, too aware of the bustle ongoing below to continue. Luke leans up against Bodhi’s side, snuggling closer as Bodhi drapes an arm over his shoulders, both of them mumbling confessions and compliments and hopes for the future.</p>
<p>“Will it bother you, me being off-moon so much?” Bodhi asks quietly, fingers moving back and forth over Luke’s upper arm in an almost unconscious gesture. “I’d like to — I mean, I’d understand but —”</p>
<p>“No!” Luke cuts in, before Bodhi can complete that thought or his hesitation can morph into anything deeper. “I mean,” he sits up, so he can face Bodhi, look into his dark, expressive eyes, “you love your job. I could see why.” Luke bites his lip and adds, “And I think now, with everything, maybe I’ll be leaving Jedha a lot more than we used to think. Having you with me — it helped.”</p>
<p>“Anything you need, I’ll be there,” Bodhi says, his dark eyes wide and utterly sincere. Just as with every promise Bodhi has ever made to him, Luke knows this one will be kept, to the fullest degree possible. “I meant it.”</p>
<p>“I know,” Luke says, grabbing Bodhi’s hand and squeezing. “Me too.”</p>
<p>“And whenever it’s all over,” Bodhi murmurs, “we’ll come home, alright? Here. And we’ll stay.”</p>
<p>“You want that?” Luke asks, barely over a whisper. It’s such a lovely dream, the image of the two of them, hand in hand in the city that has made them both, for years and decades stretching on toward the horizon. And yet — “But you love flying.” Bodhi is so beautiful behind the controls of a ship that it would break Luke’s heart never to see that again.</p>
<p>“I do,” Bodhi agrees. “But I could do that here? I mean, one day. Not for a while, probably. They’re ramping up the training modules at the base here, though. I could teach. I already do at the Academy, sometimes.”</p>
<p>“You’d be great,” Luke says, staunchly certain of it.</p>
<p>Bodhi smiles and presses a kiss to Luke’s open palm. Luke never understood why ancient Jedhan epics involved so much swooning over hand kissing until just now.</p>
<p>“I wanted to see the galaxy, help build the Commonwealth. But Jedha’s still home. And I want this,” Bodhi says, gesturing around them, encompassing the bench, the view, their knees pressed together.</p>
<p>“I’d like waking up next to you everyday,” Luke confesses.</p>
<p>“Me too,” Bodhi says.</p>
<p>Luke pulls him for another kiss, the sunset brilliant before them, the city busy below them. Everything feels, for a moment, absolutely right.</p><hr/>
<p>The first day of the Return dawns bright and breezy, the wind carrying the smell of burning incense and the sounds of plodding spamel carts and hawker’s cries in through Bodhi’s bedroom window. He rises, rubbing at his eyes, and joins his parents in their prayer room at the top of the house. After a rushed breakfast, Bodhi bathes carefully and puts on the new clothes Amma selected for him, a deep red kurta she and her fellow tailors in the shop embroidered by hand just for the Return.</p>
<p>When he comes downstairs, Zayna’s bouncing Tarika in her arms, carrying on a one-sided conversation in babytalk. Arvind watches Amma pin flowers into Divya’s hair and tries to copy her movements, fixing fragrant white jasmine atop Asha’s long, shining braid.</p>
<p>“Here, your mother saved some for us,” Abbu says, holding out a few stalks of spare jasmine.</p>
<p>Bodhi reaches up and pins them just above his right ear, vaguely grateful that he’s got enough hair to keep it in place again. Amma had looked so sad during the years when he came home with his hair buzzed off, saying he looked like he was in mourning. Abbu, as always, tucks his own flowers neatly into his breast pocket, looking every bit the distinguished school teacher Jedhan folktales love to feature.</p>
<p>“Come on, come on,” Asha says, clapping her hands. “We need to go if we want to make the second kyber viewing. It’s going to be packed and we have to get there by the time slot we were assigned.”</p>
<p>Skipping down the steps, Divya recites a couplet and Abbu applauds.</p>
<p>They make their way to the Holy Quarter on foot, swimming in a crowd of people headed the same way, easily a dozen different species and nearly as many forms of transport all within eyesight when Bodhi lifts up on his toes to scan ahead. Around them, vendors distribute flower garlands and drinks, memorial trinkets and sizzling snacks.</p>
<p>“Was it crowded like this when you were young?” Bodhi asks.</p>
<p>“Something like this,” Amma agrees. “So packed, every year. We knew the streets, but it always looked so different, during the Return. All these travelers, with their different clothes and languages, and the decorations everywhere.”</p>
<p>“Oh,” Abbu says, shaking his head, “the first year I came, I must have been young. Maybe ten standard years. And to see the Temple of the Kyber for the first time.” He shakes his head, gaze tilted upward. Bodhi follows his gaze up. They are already in the long shadow of the Temple’s great spire.</p>
<p>Luke’s somewhere inside, carrying out votive duties, or shepherding people to the correct areas. With so many people and so few Guardians in comparison, Bodhi’s not sure they’ll see each other until evening at best, though Luke promised to find Bodhi if he could.</p>
<p>“There are more coming from off-moon, now, I think,” Amma says cutting into Bodhi’s musings, with a thoughtful nod.</p>
<p>They all cross the threshold into the courtyard, barefoot, and settle cross-legged on the stone. There is singing rising and falling. Bodhi catches the tune and adds his voice. Amma grasps his hand and smiles.</p>
<p>Then, finally, the doors to the inner sanctum open again, the sunlight bouncing off the clear kyber within, reflecting back in a thousand directions, casting color out of clear light. A gasp echoes in waves over the length of the courtyard, pulling Bodhi along with it.</p>
<p>The Guardians and their novices emerge, walking down through the lines of pilgrims, wafting the swinging incense in their hands.</p>
<p>And then, Bodhi sees Luke, approaching slowly and steadily. Blond hair over dark robes, straight posture and clean lines, he’s as striking from a distance as he is embraceable when close. Bodhi drinks in the sight of him, backlit by the otherworldly kyber reflections and trailing incense smoke. Beside him, Amma murmurs something soft and approving to Abbu, but Bodhi doesn’t quite catch it.</p>
<p>Because at that moment, still rows away, Luke catches his eye. Luke’s lips curl up into a tiny, private smile and everything else goes quiet. The same brilliant, enveloping silence Bodhi chases in flight, but for them both.</p>
<p>When Luke’s close enough, Bodhi can see the faint sliver of his bare ankle below the hem of his loose pants. The sight catches in his throat. Just as Luke is about to reach them, while everyone in his row is facing forward toward the kyber, Bodhi carefully, discreetly reaches out. He wraps his hand loosely around the soft skin there, rubs his thumb over the outer knob of Luke’s ankle. Even with the murmur of the crowd, the singing, Bodhi still hears Luke’s breath catch.</p>
<p>Bodhi looks up, meeting Luke’s eyes — blue like the best kind of sky — and knows without a doubt that Luke hears his unspoken <em>I love you</em>.</p>
<p>Luke takes one hand off the incense burner and brushes the backs of his fingers over Bodhi's temple. The tenderness of it shivers through Bodhi and lingers even when Luke walks on. He holds the feeling in his chest like a flame throughout communal prayer.</p>
<p>Later, when they make it back to the house, Amma smiles tiredly at him in the kitchen and says, “It’s good to have you here, this year.”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Bodhi replies. “I’m glad I’m home, too.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And here we are, at the end! Thank you to everyone who's read, and especially to those who left kudos and comments. I was working on this starting in late February so it means a lot to see anyone who has enjoyed or appreciated this! And of course, thank you again to Sassysnowperson, who did so much of the emotional lifting to get this done, in addition to doing an incredibly rapid edit to accommodate my schedule. </p>
<p>I really do love this pairing and hope this fic has been enjoyable for the other people out there who ship it and/or love Jedha!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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